


A Song of Ruined Wings and Forbidden Love

by SunshineScorpius



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: A little bit of sadness, Albus is a Prince, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M, Minor Character Deaths, Scorpius has wings, Strangers to Lovers, The Scorbus fantasy AU that no one asked for, a few swears, at least in the beginning, made up town names, or a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:14:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21559168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunshineScorpius/pseuds/SunshineScorpius
Summary: Tilgir was a quaint little town, full of love and happiness. It was ruled under King Harry Potter and his wife, Queen Ginny. They had three children, Prince James, Prince Albus and Princess Lily and it seemed the world was in perfect peace.But the world gets tilted on its axis when Prince Albus stumbles upon a massacre of Fey with only one survivor: Scorpius. Albus takes the wounded Fairie back to the castle, where he hides him from his parents to nurse him back to health. Meanwhile, he vows to get to the bottom of the massacre and who killed the herd of Fairies, all while trying desperately not to fall in love with Scorpius.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Scorpius Malfoy/Albus Severus Potter
Comments: 26
Kudos: 106





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my fantasy Scorbus AU that I've been recently obsessed with! (If you follow me on twitter, then you know).  
> I hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it! Enjoy!

The darkness had long settled, the last of the sparks of the fire extinguished hours before, and whilst his sleep should have been uninterrupted it, he was woken by the sounds of screams and crackling fire. Scorpius rubbed his eyes, his large white wings wrapping around his body to keep him warm. He hadn’t quite grown into them yet, but his mother says it would only be a matter of time.

He looked around for his parents but neither could be seen, and so he dragged himself up on bare feet and walked towards the sound that had woken him. But he froze. Something telling him not to progress any further. In the distance he could see fire on the end of torches and the screams registered as something more: the sound of a battle.

No, a massacre.

Panic rose in his stomach, crawling through him and forming a lump in his throat. They’d found them. The people – the _humans_ – who had murdered his herd before, who had driven them out of their home, had found them once again and this time they were not leaving anyone alive. He wanted to run, but he could see his mum and dad fighting, fighting for their lives; fighting for his.

His feet took him towards the battle, wings spreading out as the anger flared through him alongside the panic. His magic tingled in his fingers. He was ready to wreak havoc on all those who harmed him and his family.

But he was pulled aside before he could reach the battle, a pair of brown wings wrapped around him – his mother. He was safe in his mothers wings, he always would be.

“Scorpius, my baby boy, you need to get away,” she spoke. The panic rose again and Scorpius twisted around to meet her eye.

“But mum, what about you and dad?” He asked, furrowing her brows. She half-smiled and touched his cheek, big brown eyes as soft as the day he first saw them. He looked so different to her, but his father always says that there was no doubt he was her son. They radiated kindness and love, were the light in their currently dark world.

“We’ll be fine, I promise. But you need to go, now,” she spoke firmly, and despite his growing panic, he had to listen to her. He stepped out of her embrace and nodded. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, mum.”

He watched her take off into battle, saw her join his father’s side and turned the other way. Scorpius ran, not daring to fly knowing he’ll attract attention. He ran as fast as his feet would take him.

Then his legs tumbled from under him, the world turning upside down. A pain – hot and searing – shot through his shoulder blade and he crashed to the floor with an agonising cry. The wound burned, the smell of hot flesh creeping into his nostrils. His left wing throbbed with pain, unbearable agony scorching through him.

Just as he was about to reach around to pull the arrow from his wing, a net came over him, pinning him to the floor. He struggled against it, but eventually the pain was too much and a distinct darkness overcame him.

#

Albus Potter had always been a small lad. His mother says it’s because he doesn’t eat his greens, but Albus just blames his father. He got everything else from him – the untameable dark hair, the dazzling green eyes that make the nation swoon, he may as well have got his height as well. But in times like this – when his black cat is perched on top of an unlit candlestick to hide from his little sisters awfully behaved puppy – is when he curses his height most of all.

“Hulu!” He muttered to his cat. How she even managed to get up there is still a mystery to Albus. “Hulu, will you please get down. The damn dog’s gone!” He sighed, stepping away from the wall to get a better look at Hulu, still somehow on the candlestick. If he was just a little taller, he would be able to reach her.

“In a bit of a pickle there, ay Al?” Albus rolled his eyes immediately at the sound of his older brothers voice.

He took his eyes from Hulu and looked at him, standing there in all his glory. His brother was a prat – and not just because he got all the good genes. James didn’t have his fathers' messy black hair, but instead a lighter auburn shade and their mothers' soft brown eyes. He did get his eyesight though, and it serves him right - but unfortunately glasses irritatingly suited him. He had a perfect bone structure and was an absolute charmer with both the women and men of Tilgir, yet still couldn’t hold down a date. And okay, he was a fairly nice person to everyone but Albus, whom he loved to tease relentlessly. Overall, James was a nice guy. If he wasn’t Albus’ brother.

“Can you at least help me rather than just stand there, Jamie?” Albus asked, defeated. Another annoying thing about his older brother – he was tall.

“Are you kidding? That bastard hates me!” James said, already walking past Albus with a wink.

“Maybe because you call her a bastard!” Albus protested, flipping him off and looking back up at Hulu. “Come on, Hulu Hoop, work with me!” He heard James laugh down the hall but chose to ignore it. Luckily for him, Hulu decided to jump down and into his arms meaning Albus could return her to his room and away from Lily’s dog.

Once Hulu was safe in Albus’ room, he went out in search for his mother. They had plans to have lunch together that afternoon, a celebratory lunch for Albus passing his studies the week previous. At sixteen, it meant he was now done with school. Though, he had to admit he would miss having something to do during the day.

Living in a castle wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

He knocked on his mother’s quarters, but she never answered. A guard told him they had seen her head down to the dining room, so Albus headed there. The castle was so large sometimes that even after sixteen years he would get lost. Down a couple of winding staircases and long boring hallways, he finally reached the dining quarters. The doors were closed, but that was probably because the chefs were preparing the table for he and his mother.

He went to knock on the door, but heard voices the other side. Instead, he pressed his ear against the golden and red door. But no matter how hard he listened, he simply could not hear the commotion on the other side of the door. Deciding that it can’t be that important, he knocked on the door and slowly opened it.

“Six men, Ginny! Six-”

“Mum? Dad? What’s going on?” Albus cut his dad off. They both turned to face him, Harry sighing but Ginny rushing to his side.

“We’re going to have to cancel our lunch I’m afraid, sweetheart,” she said as she reached his side.

Albus furrowed his brows. “But, this was supposed to be a special lunch, just the two of us.”

“For God’s sake, Albus! There are more important things!” His father snapped, causing Albus to flinch slightly. Albus looked at his mother, who – despite her hurt expression – didn’t try to comfort him or scold Harry for shouting.

Albus shook his head as he backed away, tears burning in his eyes. “Fine. Fine. But I bet you wouldn’t cancel if I were James.”

Before he could hear their reaction, he was out of the room. He ran towards the Entrance Hall, not bothering to throw any shoes on. He ran out of the castle and onto the streets of Tilgir. He was a Prince, but no one cared for Prince Albus. He wasn’t charming like James or pretty like Lily. He was no one compared to his siblings. And that was fine by him.

He didn’t want the attention. He didn’t want swooning girls or boys all over him. Sure, they thought he was handsome, but they didn’t pay him much attention past his looks. He was too boring, too angry, too brooding. If it meant he could walk the streets without much attention, then he didn’t mind being spoken about like that.

Albus crossed through the markets, giving a brief smile to the owners who knew him well – his mother used to bring all three of them to the market when he was younger. She said it was very important to get to know the townsfolk. They all greeted him kindly and he turned down many offers of free samples.

Once out of the market, he hurried down a small path that led to a stream where he hopped across the rocks to the other side. He regrets not putting shoes on, but there was no point dwelling on that. Once across the stream, Albus climbed the nearest tree and sat in a huff at the top.

He shouldn’t really be upset anymore. He should be used to it. It's what happens to the middle child of a family, there’s always one who doesn’t fit in. Always one who isn’t cared about as much as the others. His parents never protested because he was right: they wouldn’t cancel a lunch date with their precious eldest or beautiful youngest.

From his vantage point in the tree, Albus could see all of Tilgir. It was a small yet fierce town. It had fought for its freedom from the larger country of Ryhoth around forty years ago – back when his grandparents were ruling Tilgir. They were unfortunately killed in the battle, making Harry King at the mere age of one. Of course, he couldn’t rule then. The kingdom was under the rule of a famous mage named Albus Dumbledore until Harry turned of age – the very mage that Albus was named after. He died shortly after his father turned eighteen and took over ruling. But ever since their battle for freedom, Tilgir have been living in complete harmony.

Albus moved his gaze from the looming castle to the market, scanning his eyes across the townsfolk. He saw his little sister, Lily, strolling through the markets with her long, flowing pink dress behind her. Lily was a kind-hearted fierce soul. She was loved for her kindness and her adoration for the town and the people in it. She often would tip extra, would buy poorer people food or water and generally just make sure everyone is content. She’d make a great Queen, but it was James who would inherit the castle and the title of ‘King.’

Moving on, Albus saw a few kids playing about in the stream, jumping and laughing. It was the kind of childhood he never got to have. He didn’t linger of them for too long because something else caught his eye. In the distance on his side of the stream was a cloud of black smoke, like the ends of a dwindling fire.

Albus frowned to himself, scrunching his nose. He jumped down from the tree and took a quick look around to make sure no one had followed him here and took off in the direction of the black smoke. There was a part of him deep in his head that told him not to go – the good thing is Albus never really listened to his head. He was more of a ‘follow your heart’ kind of boy – he got _that_ from his mother.

It was the smell that hit him first, a fume of smoke, dust and… burning flesh? He covered his nose with his hand, trying to stop his automatic gag reflex. Ignoring the alarm bells in his head, he proceeded.

And he wished he hadn’t.

When Albus saw the first body, he threw up. He coughed until his throat was clear, and through watered eyes, looked back at the body. It was a Fairie. Her hair was a pale blue that covered her face and fell down to her wings. Or wing. One of them had been severed off and no doubt taken as proof of death.

Albus’ mind swam. Who would do this kind of thing? Tilgir was at peace with the Fey land, they had been for years. This had to be done by outsiders, but it’s incredibly close to Albus’ home. And that Fairie was not the only one. There were more. One looking no older than his twenties – though Fey age was very different to human age.

Albus walked through the smoke and ashes, his bare feet being burnt by the leftovers that had just been put out. He saw another two Fey, one with hair as white as snow with wings to match and the other with chocolate brown hair. The males wings were wrapped around the woman like he was trying to protect her. But, had clearly failed.

Albus resisted the urge to scream, or throw up. He’d stumbled upon a massacre. They wouldn’t have done this to each other. They’d been hunted and murdered.

Albus was about to run back to the castle and inform his dad about his findings when something moved in the corner of his eye. He snapped his head in that direction, his feet carrying him towards it before he could stop them. The movement had stopped, but as Albus approached he saw blindingly white wings, one of them splattered with a brutal red where it was attached at the shoulder blade, an arrow sticking out of his back. He was trapped by a net that had pinned him to the ground and was minutely shaking – probably due to the cold. Winter was coming and he wasn’t wearing thick clothes.

Albus walked around the Fairie to where his head was and squatted, trying to double check if he was breathing. His hair was as white as his wings and didn’t look much older than Albus himself. His hair was cut short unlike the other members of his herd. Albus was about to reach out to him when he groaned, flicking his eyes open to reveal silver orbs. Upon seeing Albus, he let out an almighty scream and tried to pull away, but the net stopped him and he let out a cry of agony.

“Look,” he began, eyes tearing up, “if you want to kill me, just do it. Please!” He begged. Albus held his hands up in defence.

“I’m not going to kill you, I promise,” he spoke as softly as he could. The other boy didn’t seem to relax at all at his statement. He stared at Albus for a while before letting out another cry of pain, trying to reach around to his back in his cramped space.

“Can you at least get this off me, then? Or pull this arrow out of my back?” He asked, words full of agony.

“I- erm, yes!” He said, fiddling with the net to try and release him. It had been pinned into the ground somehow and Albus struggled to release it, and when he did, the boys wings got tangled up and he let out another cry of agony. “I’m sorry!” Albus said quickly, being more careful to extract the net.

Once free, the Fairie crawled away from him, but collapsed after a few steps. Albus rubbed the back of his neck as he watched him in clear pain.

“The arrow-” Albus started, but was unsure on how to continue.

The boy looked at him, his face now wet with fallen tears, and said, “please pull it out.”

“W-what?”

“It’s burning me, I’ll be in less pain if you pull it out,” if he had the energy, he would have been begging him. Albus slightly nodded, falling to his knees at the boys side and offered him a hand to hold. He stared at it for a moment before taking it. His hand was freezing in Albus’ warmer one, and he seemed to relax slightly at his tender touch.

Albus gripped hold of the arrow and hesitated. “So, I just… pull?”

“Please,” he breathed. Albus nodded, letting the other boy grip him tighter. He was going to do a countdown, but thought it’d best not to warn him. So, with one last squeeze of the Fairies hand, Albus pulled the iron arrow from his wing. He let out of roar of pain as he squeezed Albus’ hand hard, making it go cold. Albus pulled his hand away quickly when it started to pain him.

“I’m sorry,” the boy said through gasped breaths. “That was my magic,” he explained, nodding towards his hand. Albus pulled it closer to his chest and tried blowing on it, but nothing would warm it up. The Fairie pulled himself into a sitting position and held both his hands out. “Let me.”

Against his better judgement, Albus held his hand out to him. He took it gently and closed his eyes. Within moments, Albus’ hand began to warm up, the previous chill disappearing and being replaced with an enchanting warmth that spread through his bones. He had always read that a Fey’s magic was dark and dangerous, but there was nothing dangerous about this boy nor his magic.

The boy released his hand and struggled to pull himself to his feet. Albus offered a hand but he ignored him. Once standing, his wings wrapped around his body, but he flinched in pain as they moved. Albus felt a little bit of guilt for pulling the arrow out, but he had said he’d be in more pain now if it had been left in.

“Your wing?” Albus spoke, reaching out a hand. The boy quickly slapped it away.

“You never touch a Fairies wing without permission,” he scolded, then softened slightly. “It will heal on its own, but it may take a while. Our wings are our most fragile part and our most prized possession.”

“I didn’t know, I’m sorry,” Albus apologised. The boy nodded slightly, accepting his apology and Albus felt relieved. Though he wasn’t sure why. This boy didn’t mean anything to him, yet he couldn’t leave him.

The boy started walking towards the mass of murdered Fey and Albus scrambled after him, desperate to not let him witness the horrors. Those were his _family._ Albus couldn’t even imagine the pain. “Mr. Fairie, erm – sir?” He said, quickly running and stepping in front of him. He nearly touched his wings again – which were still wrapped around him – but smoothly avoided it.

He slowed to a stop, eyebrows furrowed. “Mr. Fairie…?” He questioned.

Albus balled up his fists before releasing them, slightly embarrassed at the way he addressed the boy. “Sorry, I don’t know your name.”

“You apologise a lot, don’t you?”

“Sorry – erm, yes, uh…”

“Scorpius, that’s my name.”

“I – I’m Albus,” he introduced, going to hold his hand out. Scorpius just looked it with raised eyebrows and ignored it.

There was a short silence between them in which the tension in the air grew, a sadness settling between them. When Albus finally looked back at Scorpius, there were tears in his big grey eyes. He was looking through Albus rather than at him, his mind whirring. His eyes were haunted, no doubt with the memories of watching his herd fall down – maybe even seeing his parents die. When he blinked a few times and opened his mouth, Albus wasn’t sure what he expected to come out.

“They – They’re all dead, aren’t they?” He asked, still refusing to meet his eye. His voice was full of pain, full of sorrow.

Albus’ heart sank as he slowly nodded. He half-expected the young Fairie to break down in tears, watch as his magic goes awry with his overgrowing emotion. Or to lash out in anger and beat the Earth. But he did neither of those things. Scorpius was unmoving, unshed tears shining in his eyes, his face pale save for his rosy cheeks.

Scorpius moved around him, gaze set forward, and walked into the mass of bodies. There were seven in total. Albus tried to protest, but he was unrelenting. He stopped at the bodies of the young couple wrapped in the male’s wings and squatted. He touched the females cheek, running a thumb across her cheek before planting a kiss on her forehead and doing to same with the male. Then he stood and began walking away.

“Wait,” Albus called. “Is that it?”

Scorpius stopped and turned to face him. “We don’t mourn our dead, Albus. We don’t have time, that’s our reality.” Even as he said it, Albus could see the tears budding in his eyes; he could hear the lump in his throat. Scorpius wanted to break down, he wanted to cry and Albus wanted to shout at him to do it. Let it all out because he’ll feel better.

“Where will you go?” He asked, feeling the need to cry himself.

Scorpius sighed. “I don’t know. I’ll have to find another herd that will take me in, find a new family. If there’s even any of us left.” Albus tilted his head in confusion. “We’ve been hunted for years, for as long as I’ve been alive and maybe longer. Humans – _your_ kind – hunt us and take our wings and our blood for money. We were attacked a few weeks ago and we were all that’s left… and now it’s just me.”

Scorpius hung his head and blinked away the tears he was not willing to shed. Albus took a couple of steps towards him. “How will you find them?” He asked, softly.

Scorpius shrugged, flinching as his wings moved. “I have no idea. It will be a while, that’s if I survive long enough to find them. That’s if there’s even any Fey left.”

“Come with me.” Even as the words fell from his lips, he didn’t remember the conscious decision to say them. Scorpius looked horrified, his entire face scrunched in contempt.

“You’re a human,” he bluntly stated.

“So?”

“You’re the very kind that has murdered my people, murdered my parents!” He spat, gesturing around them. Albus nearly forgot they were standing on a mass grave.

“I didn’t do this, and you’ll be safe with me.”

“How?”

“Safer than out in the woods on your own where Fairies are being slaughtered,” Albus protested, apparently sticking to his crazy idea of sneaking a _Fairie_ into the castle. If anyone ever found out, he would be murdered.

“How is it any safer in a town full of the very kind that want to slaughter us?”

“I can almost guarantee the murderers didn’t come from Tilgir,” of that, Albus was sure. His townsfolk weren’t murderers, they were kind.

Scorpius appeared to soften slightly when he said, “where will you be hiding me?”

“In the castle.” Once again, the words tumbled out before Albus processed the consequences. Scorpius, however, freaked.

“The castle? How on Earth do you plan on sneaking a Fairie with six foot wide wings into the R _oyal_ castle undetected. And who even are you to be able to enter the castle and hide me there in the first place?”

Despite himself, Albus smirked. Scorpius looked incredibly cute when his face flushed with anger, his pointed ears red at the tips. His anger didn’t seem real though – it seemed more like shock. “You’re melting,” Albus mumbled.

“I’m what?”

“You’re thinking about it, right?”

Scorpius stopped, looking back at where the castle could be seen. He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck before turning back to Albus. “You never answered my question.”

“I’m a Prince, second son to King Harry and Queen Ginny.”

“Oh…” he said, surprised, then continued on with his shock. “Oh, so the _Prince_ of Tilgir is offering to hide a Fairie he found in the woods in his home… how is this my life?”

“So, you’re in?”

Scorpius looked at him. “How are you going to do this?”

Albus cocked his head to the side. “Do you trust me?”

“No.”

Albus smiled. _Fair answer,_ he thought. “I’ve lived in the castle my entire life, I know all its ins and outs, if anyone can get you in undetected then it’s me.”

“I have so many questions, but my main one is why?”

“You’re injured, you’re going to hide anyway, you might as well hide somewhere you can sleep and eat and be safe. Come on?” Albus held his hand out to him.

Scorpius looked as though he was going to protest, but then he nodded slightly and took Albus’ hand. “I guess I have nothing to lose.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all enjoyed the first chapter! I'll be posting daily until complete so stay tuned for that! I would love to hear all your thoughts so drop me a comment or message me on twitter: @sunshinescorp
> 
> Also, thank you to @nicolejustdraws (twitter) for agreeing to draw for this fic once again, her artwork is incredible so check her out! Above are two pictures she's drawn for this chapter!


	2. Chapter 2

Albus led Scorpius away from the massacre towards the tree he was sitting in before. The other boy was still shivering, despite having his wings wrapped around him. Albus couldn’t help but think about how much of an inconvenience having wings that large would be, though Scorpius seemed to be quite comfortable with them.

He walked past the tree, looking across the stream to make sure they couldn’t be seen by the locals. Just past the tree was a small set of stairs that led to a passage to travel under the stream undetected. Most people didn’t know it existed. Albus, James and Lily discovered it when they were kids during an intense game of Hide and Seek. Scorpius was strangely quiet until they reached the set of stairs and he stopped and stared down them.

“You’re not leading me to my death, are you?” Albus had to admit they didn't look like the _safest_ or nicest of places, but it didn't quite look like the ideal Fairie-murder spot.

Albus rolled his eyes, turning to face the blond-haired Fairie. “I am not, I’m leading you to the castle.”

Scorpius looked past Albus and down the stairs, raising an eyebrow. So, it didn’t look like the safest passage in the world, but he hadn’t died yet, and he’d used it plenty of times in the past. Albus cheekily beamed at him before turning round and hopping down the stairs. Despite himself, Scorpius followed.

Albus opened pushed aside a rock that blocked the passage, smiling at Scorpius again before ducking into the passage. It was – luckily – wide enough to fit Scorpius’ wings, even though they both had to crouch in order to fit height wise. Once inside, Scorpius flicked his hand and the rock moved back into place, blocking them in. Albus resisted the urge to make some cocky comment about using magic, knowing the boy wasn’t all too fond of him just yet – despite agreeing to go with him.

Above them, they could hear the stream flowing softly, the gentle water lapping in the mid-afternoon breeze. The stream was often used for fishing or collecting water, as well as a place for the kids to play during the summer. During the coldest part of the winter, the stream would always freeze over and the kids would often skate on it. Albus was never allowed to join in despite how much he begged his parents every year. That was one of the more tragic parts of growing up as a Prince of Tilgir.

The secret tunnel to the castle was rather dark, but Albus knew every twist and turn by heart after many adventures. There was a time in his youth when he’d hide out here whenever family life got too much. He’d been down here for two days once until James found him – and hunger led him back. There had been a city-wide search for him, but really he’d just been hiding the entire time.

Behind him, he could hear Scorpius’ gentle breaths behind him, telling him he was still there. As well as that, he could feel the presence of the other boy, like his magic was swirling around the place as opposed to just being a part of his aura.

“It’s a bit… dirty,” Scorpius spoke up after a suspicious squelching noise, causing Albus to burst out laughing. They were both barefooted, meaning the wet mud was getting all in between their toes and Albus could only hope Scorpius didn’t mind too much. “And damp and nasty and-”

“Do you just complain all the time?”

“And cold.”

Albus paused and turned to him. It was rather dark down here, but Albus could just make out the white of his hair and wings, it was like they glowed with an ethereal energy. Maybe it was his magic – Albus didn’t know anything about Fairies and their magic.

“Do you want my jacket?” Albus asked, already shrugging it off but Scorpius held a hand out to stop him. Scorpius didn’t say another word, but stretched his wings as much as he could in the small space in show, raising his eyebrows. Albus sighed. “Guess not then.” He pulled his jacket back on and started walking again.

“How much further?”

“Not much,” Albus replied as he reached the end of the dark tunnel and opened the wooden door that led into the dungeons of the castle. The dungeons used to be used to make weapons, but since the kingdom had fallen into peace they were no longer needed. They’d been unused for years, which meant it was the perfect place to sneak a Fairie into. It would be the higher floors that would become a problem.

When Scorpius emerged from the tunnel, he stretched his wings out to their full length and winced again, taking a deep breath. Albus sucked in a breath, feeling the pain for him. Scorpius leaned up against the wall and tried to stretch his neck to view his wound, but he couldn’t quite make it.

“It’s bleeding again,” Albus supplied. “Did you catch it on something?” He stepped a few steps closer, but so far Scorpius had not been very welcoming of his presence so kept his distance.

“I don’t think so,” he replied, voiced slightly hissed in pain.

“Well, let’s get you to my room and I can have a closer look?”

Despite his clear pain, Scorpius smirked. “What do you know about iron-induced injuries on a Fairie’s wing?”

Albus stuttered, “n-not a lot.”

“Where to then?” Scorpius asked, pushing himself off the wall. He stumbled slightly towards Albus who steadied him. He sent Albus a small reassuring smile to let him know he was okay and Albus nodded.

“This is where it gets a little tricky,” Albus said, wiggling his fingers slightly with an awkward smile. “How sneaky can you be?”

“Erm,” he spread his wings out. “These make it slightly tricky to be subtle.”

“Just follow my lead.”

The two boys headed up the winding stone steps of the dungeon. They had to take it fairly slowly, and occasionally Albus would hear the _wushing_ of Scorpius spreading his wings before hissing in pain. Their light footsteps were the only other sound echoing through the stone walls, following them in the empty room. Albus _knew_ no one else was around, but this part of the castle always felt like there were ghosts in the walls.

It was a relief when they reached the top of the stairs. Albus told Scorpius to stay put whilst he checked the coast was clear. The guards were hopefully patrolling the outside of the castle due to the farmers market being in full swing. He looked down both corridors, listening out for any footsteps before gesturing for Scorpius to follow.

Scorpius was much lighter on his feet than Albus and his pattering of feet was barely heard on the marble floor. They ran to the staircase that led up to the second floor where the dining quarters were. Albus could only hope his parents were no longer there and had long moved on. Albus held his hand out to Scorpius, telling him to stay around the corner whilst he checked for people. He rounded the corner on his own on light footsteps, colliding straight into his-

“Mum!” He shouted loudly enough for Scorpius to hear, a warning to stay quiet.

“Albus, honey! There you are! I was so worried after you ran out at lunch, I am so, so sorry for having to cancel,” she spoke, hands on his cheeks.

“Mum, mum, its okay!” He insisted, pulling out of her grip. It wasn’t okay, but he needed her to leave and _not_ see the Fairie he was sneaking into the castle.

“I felt awful after what your father said,” she admitted.

“Honestly, its okay,” he sent her what he hoped was his most reassuring smile. “I think – er – Lily was looking for you,” he lied, knowing Lily’s quarters were in the opposite direction of Albus’.

“She was? Oh, I’ll go find her. Thank you, dear. And I really am sorry.” She stroked a hand down his cheek and Albus forced a smile again, trying not to recoil from her touch. He nodded, waving goodbye to her as she headed off in the opposite direction. He didn’t let out the breath he was holding until she rounded a corner.

“Okay, we’re safe,” Albus announced. Scorpius came out from behind the corner with slightly tinged pink cheeks. “This way,” Albus said, taking off in the direction of another set of stairs that would lead to the floor where his quarters were.

Finally, another flight of stairs later, Scorpius and Albus were safe behind the closed door of Albus’ bedroom where they both let out a sigh. Scorpius swept his eyes across the room, taking in Albus’ four poster king sized bed, his high ceiling with a rather expensive chandelier. His colour scheme was green and silver, unlike his siblings who adopted the royal red colours. He walked to the set of two glass doors which led out onto the balcony, looking through the glass but not daring to open them.

“Make yourself at home,” Albus said, awkwardly, gesturing around. “Hulu might not be so friendly, she doesn’t like people,” he explained, gesturing to his cat sat curled up on the head of his bed. Scorpius nodded slightly. “There’s a bathroom through there, too.”

Scorpius turned to face him. “Thank you, and may I take a bath?”

“Of course! It might help your wound for it to be cleaned.” Scorpius nodded and made his way into the bathroom to begin drawing his bath. When he emerged, Albus said, “maybe, I could go get us some food from the kitchens, you must be hungry.”

“That’ll be great.”

Albus went to turn around and out the room, but a thought occurred to him. He turned back to Scorpius with a furrowed brow. “So, what do you… eat?”

Scorpius looked slightly taken aback. “You don’t know a lot about Fairies, do you? Maybe you should pick up a book.” His tone wasn’t as harsh as his words were, Albus hoped he was making some kind of joke.

“Right… of course,” Albus said, turning around and quickly leaving his room.

He was way in over his head. He’d bought a _Fairie_ into the _Royal castle_ and now said Fairie is hiding in his room.

A bloody Fairie.

Albus slumped against the wall, sinking down to a sitting position. How – why – did he think this was a good idea? He sees one gorgeous boy and his brain turns to mush. Scorpius didn’t even like him, that much was obvious. He clearly thought distastefully of the young Prince and Albus couldn’t blame him. A bunch of Albus’ kind had just murdered his family.

Albus stayed away long enough for Scorpius to bathe before heading to the kitchens, giving the boy some time to process the situation. It was probably just as overwhelming for him as it was for Albus. Once at the kitchens, Albus grabbed plenty of food for them both. Scorpius never answered his question on what he eats, so he grabbed a variety in case he had any allergies. Do Fairies get allergies?

Scorpius was right, he’d have to pick up a book. He’ll go to the library the following day. Albus also snuck some alcohol in order to clean Scorpius’ wounds, hoping it would help speed up the natural healing process that Fairies supposedly have. He poured the alcohol into an empty bottle of water and disposed of the real bottle before leaving the kitchens with a tray full of food for both him and Scorpius.

He made it all the way up to his room before he bumped into his little sister with her pet puppy. That bloody pet only ever seemed to leave her side when harassing Albus’ poor little cat. He was an absolute nightmare, though of course Lily only saw the good side of him.

“Hey, Albie,” she said, eyeing the food. Her chocolate Labrador whined slightly at her side, clearly begging for some of Albus’ food.

“No, that piece of shit can’t have anything,” Albus said immediately, looking at the dog distastefully.

“Oh Albus,” Lily said, bending down to pick the pet up in her arms. “You’re so mean to Jaffa Cake!”

“Because he’s mean to Hulu!” He defended. “Anyway, Lu, I have to go.”

Lily eyed him carefully, letting Jaffa Cake down onto the floor. “That’s a lot of food you’ve got there,” she said with an inquisitive tone.

“Oh – erm – yes, well, I-I’m very hungry,” he tried, but the words didn’t sound convincing even to himself. His sister let out a giggle and shook her head, backing away from him.

“Sure, Al, but you might want to be careful,” she said, stopping slightly in front of his room. Albus swallowed his rapidly beating heart, hoping she’d continue to leave. “Someone might think you’re -” she looked at Albus’ bedroom door before back at him “- hiding something.” She winked before giggling again, running off down the hall, her pink dress flowing behind her.

Albus released a deep breath, but he knew he wasn’t out of the woods yet. He should have known he couldn’t hide Scorpius from Lily. He couldn’t hide anything from her. Lily knew everything that went on in this castle.

Albus looked around before elbowing his door open. Inside, Scorpius was sat dressed in a pair of Albus’ jogging bottoms with his legs crossed on the floor, playing with Hulu and her favourite mouse toy. Albus nearly dropped the tray of food in shock. Hulu hated playing with anyone that wasn’t Albus, she was very particular about who she befriended. But he was even more shocked by the genuine smile on Scorpius’ face.

“Hey,” Scorpius said when he realised Albus standing by the door. “Sorry about borrowing your clothes, I didn’t have anything to change into.”

“Oh, it’s fine,” Albus said, finally finding his footing and putting the tray of food on his bed. “Hulu seems to like you,” he pointed out, still slightly in shock.

“She’s adorable,” Scorpius said, stroking in between her ears. Hulu let out a little purr. Scorpius stood up and walked over to the bed, eyeing the variety of food. “This looks good,” he said. It seems Scorpius was in a better mood than he left him. However, Albus couldn’t stop looking at his bare-chest and the fact that he was very – _very_ \- good looking.

“Did you need a t-shirt or something?” Albus asked, a slight squeak to his tone.

“I’m afraid none of yours accommodate the wings quite like mine usually would. I’ll put the other one back on as soon as it’s been washed, if you don’t mind that is?”

“Washing it?” Scorpius nodded. “Course not, I’ll send it down with my stuff.” Scorpius nodded, picking up a piece of fruit and taking a bite into it. Albus followed suit and dug into the lunch – or late-afternoon snack – he’d arranged. They sat mostly in silence whilst they ate, until Scorpius spoke up, eyeing him carefully.

“So, if you’re a Prince, where’s your crown?”

Albus’ hand flew to his hair, normally where his golden crown rested. But he hadn’t put it on that morning for some odd reason. Sometimes he forgets and other times he ‘forgets’. Realising it wasn’t there, Albus stood and walked over to his drawers on the other side of the room. He pulled open the top drawer and retrieved his crown, placing it on his head and doing a theatrical bow. Scorpius didn’t laugh.

“It suits you,” he said instead. “Makes your hair look less messy.”

“I can’t help the messy hair, family trait unfortunately,” Albus said, walking back over to his bed and sitting down. Scorpius tilted his head to the side before reaching out and brushing some of Albus’ dark curls from his face, placing them in a better place. “Thanks.”

“No problem, your Highness.”

Albus scrunched his nose. “Please don’t call me that.” Scorpius laughed slightly and shook his head. They finished off their food and Albus put some of the leftovers into a bowl for Hulu, putting the tray outside his room for someone to come pick it up. There were perks of having people waiting on your hand and foot. Albus decided to change out of his Princely outfit into something more comfortable, disappearing for a beat into the bathroom to change.

“How’s your wound? I bought some alcohol to sterilise it,” Albus asked once he emerged.

“That would help the healing process,” Scorpius agreed, shuffling around so his back was to Albus’. “Just go for it.”

Albus nodded, realising Scorpius couldn’t see him and then gave a verbal affirmation. He retrieved a towel from his bathroom and sat behind Scorpius’ spread out wings and wet the towel with some of the alcohol. He gave a brief warning before pressing the towel to Scorpius’ injured wing.

_Whoosh._

Scorpius’ other wing flinched, hitting Albus in the side and sending him flying to the floor. Albus landed with a rather harsh thud and looked back at Scorpius with an incredulous expression.

“I’m sorry!” He said, offering a hand to Albus. “It was a natural reflex to the pain, they have a mind of their own. Mum said I’ll get used to them eventually but I’m not sure I ever will. I’ll tuck it in,” he promised as he helped him up.

“It’s fine, I’m fine,” he said, sitting back down behind him. As promised, Scorpius tucked his wing in and let Albus work on cleaning the wound with alcohol. He flinched a few times, but by the time he was finished, the wound was already starting to look better. “How long will it take to fully heal?”

Scorpius shrugged. “A few days, I think. Then I’ll be out of your hair.”

“You can stay as long as you need,” Albus assured, secretly hoping he’d never want to leave.

Scorpius stood. “I’m tired, is there anywhere I can sleep?”

Albus gestured to the bed. “Here’s fine.”

“But… there’s only one?”

“Would that be a problem? I could sneak you to another room but-”

“No problem,” he assured, lying down on top of Albus’ soft green duvet and wrapping his wings around himself. He must have been tired, because he fell quickly into a deep sleep.

Albus decided to sneak down to the library – sneaking because if he was caught he’d be expected to attend dinner and not only did he not want to face his parents, but he'd also had enough food for the night. He made it down the few flights of stairs undetected and hid himself away in the library, finding a couple of books on Fairies and a comfy chair to sit on.

He buried himself into a few books, reading up as much as he could. He’d learned about Fairies’ before back in school, but Albus wasn’t listening simply because he didn’t think he’d ever meet a real one. Let alone one so pretty and… well out of his league. Even though he knew he should not be thinking about Scorpius that way, his mind couldn’t help but wander – it often did that. Albus much preferred living inside his head than in the real world.

After a few hours of non-stop reading, Albus decided it was time for him to retreat to bed himself. He put the books back on their shelves and made his way back to his quarters, avoiding his mum and dad who were just heading to the ballroom – it was date night. He hid around a corner until they disappeared before jogging up the rest of the stairs to his room.

Scorpius was still fast asleep when he arrived, Hulu curled up at his feet. Albus changed for bed, making sure to lock his door so no one could enter in the morning to see him in the _same_ bed as a Fairie. He curled up with his back to Scorpius and tried not to think about how screwed he’d be if his parents ever found out about him. And tried not to think about how fast his pulse was beating being this close to him, feeling his warmth as he drifted off into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, some people are having trouble viewing the art, so I'm going to link Nicole's tumblr here where she's posts them so you can have a look there (https://secretlydreamingofgansey.tumblr.com/) and she also posts them on her twitter: @nicolejustdraws  
> Thanks for the feedback on yesterday's chapter and I hope you all liked chapter 2! Let me know!  
> @sunshinescorp


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Welcome to chapter 3! Hope y'all are enjoying so far! Let me know :)

Albus did not expect to be woken in the early hours of the morning to soft sobs coming from the boy sleeping – or not sleeping – beside him. He had no idea of the time, but the sun was just starting to creep through the curtains, and next to him Scorpius was crying. It was clear he was trying to stifle his sobs, probably burying his head into Albus’ pillow or biting his knuckles to stop all his emotion coming out in loud eruptions.

Albus’ heart panged for him. He said they don’t mourn, that they were used to deaths, but clearly losing everyone had hit him harder than he let on.

Albus stayed as still as possible. He knew Scorpius wouldn’t appreciate him listening in or even trying to comfort him, so he lay still and pretended to be asleep. It seemed to last for hours. Every time Scorpius’ sobs faded down to quiet sniffles, they would start up again and he would shake the whole bed. Even Albus let out a few tears, unable to even imagine the pain he went through – is _going_ through.

Eventually, when his sobs settled down, Scorpius decided to get up and Albus drifted back into a light sleep to the quiet sounds of Scorpius playing with Hulu. When he woke again, Scorpius had ventured onto the balcony and was sitting on the bench out there with Hulu, softly stroking her ears and watching the town wake.

Albus stretched out before stumbling off the bed, rubbing his eyes as he made his way out of the room and onto the balcony. Albus’ room was slightly to the side, so it was half-hidden away from most things, meaning Albus got more privacy than most in the castle. Especially James, whose balcony could be seen from the town.

“Don’t worry,” Scorpius said when Albus appeared, leaning on the door frame. “I made sure no one could see me before I came out here.” Albus looked at him. His blond hair was slightly mussed from sleep and running his hand through it, and his silver eyes were red-rimmed, his emotional turmoil during the night showing evidently on his face.

“What’re you doing out here?” Albus asked, deciding to sit the other side of Hulu, giving her a brief stroke between the ears. Hulu reacted immediately, standing at his touch and climbing into his lap, purring softly.

Scorpius smiled at the cat before responding, “I needed some air, something fresh. We’re not used to be trapped.” He gestured vaguely to the space around him, and Albus could see the longing in his eyes. Albus felt his stomach drop, feeling sorry for the poor boy yet again.

“You’re not trapped here, Scorpius. You can leave whenever you want,” he spoke, despite how much it pained him to do so. He didn’t want Scorpius to leave and he didn’t quite know what that meant yet. He told himself it was just because he didn’t want him to get inevitably hunted like his family.

“I know. I don’t _feel_ trapped here, I appreciate everything you’re doing for me,” Scorpius said, eyes flicking from the horizon to Albus. “What I mean is Faeries are used to being able to fly, to go wherever they want, but I can’t anymore. I never can again.”

“Why not?”

“We don’t survive on our own; we don’t hunt on our own, or fly on our own. We travel in packs. Being alone means being a target.”

Albus sighed. “I can’t imagine living like that.”

“Why would you be able to?” Scorpius stood and walked over to the edge of the balcony. “Look at what you have. You’ve never had to fight for anything in your life, whereas my whole life has been a fight.”

He wasn’t looking at Albus. He was intently watching the sun in the far off distance with his back to him. Albus inspected his wound from where he was sitting, seeing it had improved significantly overnight, but was still an angry red. Every time Scorpius moved his wing, he flinched in pain. Scorpius was right; Albus has had everything handed to him on a plate. The only fight he’s ever had was fighting for his parents’ attention and it was the fight he always lost. But that in comparison to fighting a silent war was nothing.

“How old are you?” Albus asked, unsure if it was rude to ask a Fairies' age the same way it was rude to ask a woman’s weight.

Scorpius didn’t seem fazed by the question, however. He turned back to face him, his wings blocking the sun from Albus’ view which he was silently grateful for. “I’m sixteen, in your years anyway,” he said, watching Albus carefully.

“I am sorry – about your parents,” Albus said.

Scorpius shrugged and walked back into the bedroom. Hulu jumped from Albus’ lap and followed Scorpius into the room, giving a quick _mew_ to Albus to let him know she was leaving. Albus rolled his eyes, loyalty means _nothing_ to cats. Not that he could blame Hulu, Albus had become quite fond of the boy as well.

Albus followed him back inside, going over to his wardrobe to pull out his attire for the day. “I’m expected at breakfast. We have a meeting with the King and Queen and their daughter from Ryhoth and mum and dad would kill me if I’m late. I’ll bring something back for you though,” Albus explained as he rifled through his wardrobe.

“Sounds important,” Scorpius said, coming up behind him. He pulled out a green and silver tunic and a black pair of trousers. “Wear this, it matches your eyes.”

Scorpius then walked away and plopped himself on Albus’ bed, fiddling with his fingers. Albus disappeared into the bathroom to change, deciding to wear the clothing that Scorpius approved of – though why that mattered to him so much he didn’t know.

“Hey, do you have a book I could borrow?” Scorpius shouted from the bedroom. Albus emerged wearing his perfectly fitted tunic and leggings. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought Scorpius’ jaw dropped slightly before he coughed and smiled. “That looks good on you,” he complimented and this time, it was Albus’ turn to gape and cough.

“Erm – thank you.”

“This meeting with the Princess, is it a set-up?” He asked, pulling himself up from his lying position and crossing his legs.

“Not at all, father doesn’t agree with any of that. It’s a regular meeting to ensure peace between our two kingdoms.”

“Well, have fun with your Princely duties,” he smiled.

“I can pop to Lily’s room and ask about a book for you before I go, if you want?”

“If you don’t mind,” Scorpius said, half shrugging.

Albus nodded, leaving his room and shutting the door firmly behind him. He took the stairs to the floor below and knocked on his little sisters’ bedroom door. He would have gone to the library, but that’s all the way on the bottom floor and honestly, he had no idea what Scorpius would _want_ to read, he’d be searching all day trying to find the right book. At least this way, he didn’t have to choose.

Lily opened the door with a yawn, still recovering from her sleep even though her hair had already been pulled into an elegant braid, flowers knitted throughout it. Jaffa Cake was at the door immediately, sniffing out the company, but sulked back to the bed when he realised it was only Albus. He always got a treat whenever James showed up.

“It’s early, Al, what do you want?” Lily said, yawning again. She was slightly grumpy in the morning, before she got her coffee.

“I need to borrow a book.” Lily immediately raised her eyebrows.

“You need a book?” She pushed off the door and moved aside, gesturing with her arm. “Choose your weapon,” she said.

Albus thanked her and walked over to the bookshelf she had in her room, scanning the books with his eyes. None of them particularly stood out, most of them romantic novels that he can’t imagine Scorpius would enjoy. But then, he didn’t really know much about the Fairie. Lily strode up next to him, eyeing him carefully.

“You look good, since when did you wear your best clothes to breakfast? Even when the King and Queen of Ryhoth are here?” She asked, running her fingers across the spines of some books, hovering over one and pulling it from its spot.

Albus shrugged, “just picked it out,” he lied.

Lily giggled, “sure, bro.” She shoved the book she’d picked out into his hands and winked. “See you at breakfast.” Lily ushered him out and Albus was happy to leave before she questioned him further on wanting a book. She already had suspicions after catching him getting them food the previous day.

He jogged back up to his room, managing to avoid anyone else. He handed the book to Scorpius who thanked him and immediately began reading, completely ignoring Albus. He finished getting ready, trying to sort his messy hair out around his crown before saying an awkward goodbye. Hulu jumped off the bed and followed him out the door. He had barely closed it before bumping into James.

“Who were you talking to?” James said, trying to look behind him even though Albus’ door was firmly closed.

“Hulu, of course,” he played off.

James eyed the cat. “But, she’s here? You were saying goodbye.”

Albus started walking, knowing James would follow. His brother was wearing a tunic similar to his own, but coloured purple rather than green and his trousers were white, matching his boots. He and Albus often were direct opposites, especially in their personality. James was loud and bashful, whereas Albus like to keep himself to himself, was often insecure and very quiet.

“I didn’t think she was coming, she tries to avoid Lily’s devil dog,” he explained with an off-hand gesture.

“Okay, sure,” James said, not sounding at all like he believed him.

 _Get your act together, Albus,_ he scolded himself. _You cannot give yourself or your fucking Fairie away._

James didn’t question him any further though, much to Albus’ relief. They reached the dining room just after their parents and took a seat at their usual places. James made the conversation which Albus was grateful for because he still hadn’t forgiven them – or at least his dad. Lily sauntered in a few minutes later in a light blue dress matching the flowers in her hair.

They were made to stand when the King, Queen and Princess arrived as the trumpets announced their entrance. It was all very over the top, or so Albus thought. Royalty had never been his forte, yet he was forced into it and its high-maintenance lifestyle. As for his siblings, they basked in it, they loved it.

He plastered the smile on his face as someone announced the entrance of King Phillip, an older man dressed in an unnecessarily heavy red cloak, holding a staff. James caught Albus’ eye across the table and raised his eyebrows. They’ve met the Royal family before, but the man seemed to have aged significantly in the past year or so, and has sunken further into the stereotype for ‘King’. Albus was glad that his own dad never wore those overly excessive cloaks.

King Phillip greeted them all with a kind smile and shook his father’s hand before Queen Anastasia was introduced, floating down the few steps in a large cream dress that flowed behind her. It was a halter neck that looked like it was halfway to strangling her. She smiled a wide false smile whilst passing Lily, brushing her arm slightly before embracing his mum – a hug that looked more uncomfortable than a mattress with the springs sticking out. By the time Queen Anastasia had greeted his parents, the Princess was being introduced.

Princess Camilla was beautiful, there was no denying that. Even to Albus, despite not swinging in her direction. She had a head of beautiful brown curling locks that pooled down her back, and blue eyes which stood out against the dark hair. She was wearing a yellow dress similar to her mothers, but not so heavy. She simply curtsied before being led to her seat next to James, who had a smile on his face he couldn’t wipe off. Lily giggled next to Albus and nudged his arm, causing them both to lightly laugh at James’ doe-eyed forlorn look.

“Take a seat,” Harry announced, gesturing for them all to sit down. There was a scraping of chairs before they were all settled. “Thank you for joining us.”

“It’s our pleasure,” King Phillip replied as the servants began placing their breakfast dishes in front of them. “Thank you for hosting us.”

Albus rolled his eyes at the formality, deciding to tune out of the boring small talk to think about Scorpius, wondering what he was doing on his own. Probably just reading that book and not thinking about Albus at all. Because why would a beautiful Fairie be thinking about stupid Albus – a _human._ Albus tried not to let his sudden sour mood ruin the morning, but truth was once his mind got lost in thoughts of Scorpius, it was difficult to stop them.

He thought of his herd, about how they’d been murdered in front of him. He couldn’t even imagine the pain and he thought the boy was rather brave for not originally breaking down. A part of Albus wished he had talked to him this morning when he woke to his sobs, but he also knew Scorpius would close up even more and probably avoid him – despite staying in the same room.

“… massacre.” Albus tuned back into the conversation when they word fell from his father’s lips, snapping his head up.

“What happened was tragic,” Queen Anastasia agreed. He looked at James, hoping to get some sort of logic from the conversation, but James was twirling a piece of bacon around his fork.

“What _did_ happen?” Lily asked and Albus was silently grateful of her presence.

It was Princess Camilla who answered, perking James up as well. “There was a herd of Fey staying on the outskirts of Tilgir, but they were all found dead yesterday afternoon.” The way she said it was curious, like it didn’t _shock_ her. Like the murder of several beings didn’t affect her at all.

Like she somehow _knew_ about it already.

Lily gasped. “That’s awful, who killed them?”

Camilla was about to speak, but her father cut her off. “That’s yet to be determined.” There was an urgency to his voice that Albus didn’t trust. He never had trusted them, but he also wouldn’t put it past them to order a massacre on a group of Fey.

Despite being at peace with the country of Ryhoth, there was still some tension there – even forty years later. They had regular meetings purely for the sake of showing their people they were still on good terms, but if the two kingdoms never had to interact, they wouldn’t. Albus wished they didn’t have to interact because then he wouldn’t be sat at a boring breakfast when he could be entertaining his Fairie upstairs.

“Something we’ll be investigating during your stay,” his mother said, once again snapping Albus’ attention back.

“Stay?” Albus asked, the words falling from his lips before he could catch them.

“Yes, stay,” his father confirmed. “The King, Queen and Princess will be here for a few days whilst we investigate the Fairie massacre.”

Albus tried not to let the panic overwhelm him. Whilst they were here, he and Scorpius would have to be even more careful. If – as Albus suspected – the royalty of Ryhoth did have something to do with the murder of Scorpius’ family, then he didn’t think he could keep Scorpius’ rage under wraps. If it were Albus, there was no way he could happily stay in the same place as the murderers of his family.

Albus stood, “if you’ll excuse me, I’m – erm – not feeling great, I think I’m going to have a lie down,” he lied, knowing his parents – or at least James and Lily – saw straight through it. However, no one questioned him.

“Okay, honey. Feel better soon,” his mum said, sending him a kind smile. Lily, however, furrowed her brows at him, knowing he was up to something.

Albus ignored her and left the room and half his plate unfinished, popping quickly to the kitchens to get something for Scorpius. As most the chefs and servants were busy hosting their new guests, the kitchen was empty enough for Albus to slip in undetected. He rushed back up to his room, closing and _locking_ the door behind him. Having guests always puts him on edge, but having guests he didn’t trust made it even worse.

Scorpius looked up from his book with a curious expression, eyes narrowed and eyebrows furrowed, his nose scrunched up. Albus put the thought that he looked _absolutely adorable_ to the back of his mind and shook his head in response. He sat up on the bed, flinching slightly. Albus saw it as the perfect opportunity to avoid the subject.

“How’s your wing?” He asked, picking up a towel and the alcohol he’d stolen after he’d put Scorpius’ breakfast in front of him. He sat behind him again, leaving more room on the bed this time in case of an instinctual slap from his wing.

“It’s okay, doesn’t hurt as much anymore.”

Albus nodded, knowing he couldn’t see him. He gave a little warning before applying the alcohol to the wound. There was a _whoosh_ of his wings, but this time Scorpius managed to avoid hitting him.

“Sorry,” he mumbled anyway. “Why are you back so early? I expected you to be gone longer. Are the Royal pains in the backside not entertaining enough for you, your Highness?”

Albus was a little taken aback from the harshness in his tone, but he could tell the words weren’t meant as an insult to him, but rather the King and Queen of Ryhoth. Albus put the alcohol on his bedside table and got up to sit the other side of Scorpius, facing him.

“Why do I get the feeling you have a problem with them?”

Scorpius tilted his head to the side. “Come on, Albus, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that if it wasn’t you who sent the assassins, it was Ryhoth.” Albus raised his eyebrows, a silent gesture for more. Scorpius sighed. “We’ve been at war with Ryhoth for years – longer than I’ve been alive. Our original nest was on the border of their city. That’s where I was born and we kept ourselves to ourselves.

“About a year ago, King Phillip decided enough was enough. They were accusing us of stealing from them – food, water and other things – but that wasn’t case. The case was that we were losing Fairies, nearly every day for about a year; a different Fairie would turn up dead and their wings taken or blood drained. Fairies wings hold a magical power to them that can be used for healing, same with the blood. But we didn’t move, nor fight back because we didn’t want a war on our hands. Our numbers were dramatically depleting, we couldn’t afford it.

“And then, they attacked. Hundreds of us dead apart from the ones that managed to get away. We’re already a dying species, our immortality, usually, keeps us alive. But, that’s impossible when you get attacked and most Fairies aren’t making it past the age of three-hundred. About fifty of us survived that and since then we’ve been on the run, never staying anywhere too long and afraid of being shot at.

“We came to Tilgir in a hopes that they wouldn’t follow us that far. And about three months ago we finally settled again. Started building a home for us, somewhere our young – like me – could grow up without that fear of being attacked. But we were, again. What you saw back at the site, that was all that was left of us. Seven of us. And now, just me.”

Albus didn’t know at which point during the story Scorpius’ silver eyes teared up, or when he took his hand. But now their fingers were entwined and Scorpius was holding on tight, as though he’d lose Albus if he let go just as he lost everyone else.

“Are you sure no one else could have gotten away from that first attack? You can’t be all of what’s left,” Albus said, eyes wide.

Scorpius shrugged. “It’s possible, but unlikely. We tried looking, no one ever found anything. As I said earlier, Fairies don’t survive on their own. We live and travel in packs; you don’t fly alone or hunt alone. You get killed that way. If there were Fairies out there, we would have found them, or they would’ve found us.”

 _Fairies don’t survive on their own_. For some reason, the words stuck with Albus. A slight fear shivering through his body because Scorpius was alone now. He had no one protecting him – no one but Albus, and what was Albus compared to real Fairies with magical powers and six-foot wide wings?

“But, you’re on your own,” he pointed out, talking around the lump in his throat.

To his surprise, Scorpius smiled softly. “I’m not. For whatever reason, you took me in. You chose to protect me, even by bringing me to the _worst_ possible place for a Fairie,” he chuckled. Albus laughed too until they were softly giggling between them. Then, Scorpius leaned forward and placed a small, gentle kiss on his cheek. “Thank you for that, Albus.”

Albus was sure he blushed redder than a tomato and smiled so widely his dimple would have popped up on his left cheek. Scorpius smiled softly – the smile he did quite often. Albus willed his heartbeat to slow down – he’d only known the boy a _day_ , yet he was quickly taking over his heart.

There was a rapt knocking at the door before someone trying to open it and both boys jumped from the bed, Albus jumping in front of Scorpius as though he could hide the boy from sight. The _taller_ boy with six-foot wide _wings._

“Albus?” Lily’s voice called from the other side. “Why’s your door locked?”

“Bathroom,” Albus said to Scorpius, gesturing him away and Scorpius quickly nodded, disappearing into the other room. He made sure the door was firmly closed before opening the door for Lily, who stormed in and looked around, half expecting to find something – or someone.

Behind her, Hulu strode in, purring against Albus’ leg as if he hadn’t abandoned her at the breakfast table.

“Barge in why don’t you, Lils?” Albus said, trying to put as much animosity into the words as possible. Lily only rolled her eyes. “I locked the door because I wanted to sleep without disruptions.”

“Bullshit. But, we need to talk.” She closed Albus’ door firmly and locked it before sitting down on his bed. “They’re murderers.”

“Who?”

“The King and Queen and probably their precious little Princess, too.” Lily rarely spoke with such harshness to her words, but when she was passionate about something, she let herself get riled up. And for this subject, Albus couldn’t blame her. “I have no doubt that they ordered the assassin attack on those Fairies and the fact that we’re housing them makes me sick! Those Fairies were on our land, they had no right to do that and I want to rip their eyeballs out and feed them to Jaffa Cake.”

“Don’t you think that’s a little harsh on Jaffa Cake?” Albus joked, sitting next to his sister. Despite herself, Lily let out a laugh. “But, I agree. It’s disgusting.”

“That’s why you ran out, right?”

“How did you know?”

Lily smiled, and it sort of reminded Albus of Scorpius and his soft smile. “I know you, Al. You’re kind and I know that kind of stuff really gets to you. To hear they were staying made me want to storm out, too.”

“So, what are we going to do about it?” Albus asked.

“I’ll think of something,” she assured. He pulled her in for a tight hug before she kissed his cheek and left him alone, her dress flowing behind her from how fast she was walking. Albus smiled as he watched her leave. He loved that his little sister was such a bright spark, she would make a great Queen – if only the throne wasn’t going straight to James.

“I think I like your sister,” came a voice from behind him. Albus turned to find Scorpius standing in the bathroom door. They both smiled at each other, thinking the same thing: she’s one of the good ones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, a wonderful drawing by @nicolejustdraws  
> I would love to hear all your thoughts so please don't be shy to drop a comment!  
> Twitter: @sunshinescorp


	4. Chapter 4

It turns out that living with a Fairie wasn’t much different than normal, except for the fact that Albus had to share half of his bed and the boy really liked taking long baths (Albus always wondered _how_ he fit his wings in with him, but then realised he can make them rather small when he wants to). Mostly – when Albus wasn’t needed for his Princely duties – they would just sit and read together. Scorpius liked to read a lot and was rather quick at it – Albus had done more trips to the library since his arrival than ever before.

Sometimes, Scorpius would read passages out loud, ones he found particularly funny or sad and Albus found he rather liked listening to his voice. Albus would sit playing with Hulu whilst Scorpius read to him, the air full of a calming ambience that could send Albus to sleep – and had done a few times.

The only thing that really bothered Albus about him was his inability to sleep. It seemed Scorpius was the most restless sleeper in the world, waking way too often and hardly sleeping at all. He also moved a lot when he was sleeping, which meant Albus had been slapped with giant wings more often than not. But he never complained. If anything, he’d grown more fond of him over the past few days as he slowly came out of his shell.

Despite how quiet he was, Albus found he quite liked to talk and was full of useless information and facts about various things. He told Albus stories of his childhood, what it was like growing up. He told him of his first flight when his wings were barely the size of his arms and how he was in the air for too long and ended up growing exhausted rather quickly. He fell from quite the height, but his father swooped down to catch him before too much damage could be done.

Albus smiled at the memory of Scorpius animatedly recalling his childhood memories, and Lily caught him from across the table and rolled her eyes. She had no idea (well, maybe she had an incline) that Albus was harbouring a Fairie in his room, but she did know something was going on with him – she bloody asked him enough times. But, how could he explain that he had a crush on a bloody _Fairie_ that he was hiding in the castle? He wanted to talk to her, but he couldn’t risk anyone outside of himself knowing about Scorpius.

“Are you even reading?” Lily asked from across the table, eyebrows raised. Albus buried his head back in the book and promptly ignored her. They’d both visited the library that day, Lily because she had some homework and Albus because he was still doing his research on Fairies (he’d told Lily it was because he wanted to be as educated as possible because of this investigation they’d started on proving the King and Queen of Ryhoth sent the assassins, but that wasn’t the _only_ reason).

“Mythical and Magical Creatures?” Came another voice – one way too high and snobby to be his little sister – reciting the name of his book. Albus lifted his head from the book to meet the stuck-up Princess of Ryhoth, looking down at Albus like he was no more than a scum on the street. “What kind of leisurely reading is that?”

Their guests have been staying at the castle for three days now, and up until now Albus had done a brilliant job of avoiding them. He forced away the urge to roll his eyes as he smiled at her. “Lily’s got some homework, I was just helping her,” he lied easily.

“What brings you here, Princess?” Lily asked Camilla with a hint of animosity in her tone.

Camilla took it upon herself to claim the third unused chair, sitting with her back poised like she had a stick up her arse. Lily caught Albus’ eye and sent him a smirk.

“Just looking for a bit of light reading, there’s not much else to do around here, is there?”

 _You could fling yourself out a window, that’ll be fun,_ Albus thought as he forced a smile.

“No, I don’t suppose there is,” he replied instead.

“So, what do you normally do for fun?” She asked, clearly not leaving either of them alone any time soon.

“Go to school, annoy James, whilst Al works on destroying toxic masculinity and I attempt to take down the patriarchy. You know, regular teenage stuff,” Lily replied and Albus let out an uncontrolled snicker. Camilla simply raised her eyebrows and nodded, unsure on whether or not Lily was joking. She looked at Albus for help, but he only shrugged. “What about you? Or is hunting Fairies your idea of fun?”

Albus snorted, thankful he wasn’t drinking anything at the time.

Princess Camilla stuttered, pushing her shoulders back and jutting her chin impossibly higher, looking down at Lily through her nose. “Father always said the Potter’s raised a bunch of brats.” And with that, she got up and stormed from the library.

Albus and Lily looked at each other for a quick moment before they burst out into loud and obnoxious laughter. They both wheezed, struggling to catch a breath as giggles erupted from them, holding their bellies as they began to ache.

“Who needs regular fencing sessions for abs when you’ve got Camilla walking around?” Albus choked out through his giggles, gesturing after the Princess who had long left the library, no doubt to find James and complain to him – the two had become rather friendly recently. Lily only started laughing harder, having to push her chair away from the table to curl over even further.

They seemed to be laughing for a while. Every time they would calm down they would meet eyes for a moment and the giggles would erupt again, like a volcano that’s been dormant for years and needs a release. It wasn’t until James joined them that the laughs finally died down, no doubt to give them a telling off for insulting the Princess of Ryhoth. They may have the same title as her, but they would always be below Ryhoth in her eyes.

“Are you here to defend her Royal Highness?” Lily asked as James sat in the previously vacated seat.

James smiled. “Fuck no,” he laughed. “I’m here to give you a high five! I’ve been trying to get her off my back since she arrived, and when she came to me throwing insults about you guys, I found the perfect opportunity.”

“Wait,” Albus said, a grin still on his face. “You never liked her?”

“No way, Albie! She’s a living nightmare, and all she does is talk about how she’s so much bigger and better than everyone else. Especially Fairies.”

Lily leaned forward in her seat. “She talks about that?”

James nodded. “She’s not a fan of them at all. And I figured if I could get a little closer to her and find out some secrets, I could help you guys out.” James grinned at them both, raising his eyebrows slightly.

“Help… us out?” Albus asked.

“I know why you stormed out of breakfast the other day, Al, and Lily never even tried to keep quiet about her hatred for her. I figured it had something to do with the massacre. I went out there yesterday and they’re still there. I’m going to try and convince dad to send a team out and bury them like they deserve.”

“No!” Albus blurted, half jumping out of his seat. Both Lily and James looked at him curiously, confusion clouding their matching brown eyes. He ignored them, gathering his books up quickly and folding his arms around them. “I have to go.”

Without another word and before James and Lily could question him, Albus was flying out of the library, books clenched in his arms. He had never sprinted so fast through the castle halls – not even when he was seven and he, James and Lily were playing Tag. He ran past his dad and Prince Phillip, but promptly ignored them, hearing his dad brush off his behaviour with a simple, _“kids,”_ and no doubt rolling his eyes whilst King Phillip laughed.

When he got up to his room and shut the door behind him, Scorpius was immediately talking with a sense of urgency to his tone. “Your mother came in earlier looking for you. She didn’t see me, I rushed onto the balcony and flew just above your room, having to sort of hover whilst she came out and looked. And I thought my wound was fully healed but actually flying did not do it great and I think I may have tore it open, could you check it out?”

He span quickly on his heels, nearly knocking Albus out as he did. Albus quickly dropped the books on his bed before going back to Scorpius, carefully hovering around the wound without touching his wing – Scorpius still hadn’t allowed that outside of caring for it.

“It looks like it may have torn open a little, I’ll get some alcohol from the kitchens to clean it in a moment but we have bigger issues,” Albus said, forcing the same urgency to his voice.

Scorpius span on his heels to face him and tilted his head. “Bigger issues than a Fairie whose wing – his sole purpose to live – is injured?”

“Yes. My brother, James, wants to convince my dad to go out to where your family are and bury them.”

“Oh.”

Scorpius pursed his lips, his eyes downcast as he processed this new information. It seemed wrong – to Albus anyway – that anyone but Scorpius gets to bury his family. Scorpius looked back up at him forcing a smile onto his face, but despite it, the smile never reached his eyes.

“That’s… nice of him,” he spoke, voice croaky and forced. “Really nice.”

Scorpius turned around and walked onto the balcony, letting Albus watch him go. Albus felt a pang in his heart as the boy walked away, his wings slumped and pulled close to him – something he did when he was either cold or upset.

“Scorpius,” Albus said, following after him. On the balcony, he was already sat down with his legs pulled to his chest and wings wrapped around him.

“It’s fine, Albus. They deserve a burial, I just wish I could go.”

Albus sat down opposite him crossed legged, trying to get as close as possible. “I can’t even imagine what it’s like.” In truth, Albus was at a loss for words. He’d never lost anyone close to him, he’d been lucky like that. Whereas Scorpius had lost everyone he’s ever met all in one go in the space a year. “I’ll go,” Albus said.

Scorpius finally looked at him, wings opening and legs falling into a crossed legged position. “You’ll go?” He asked, voice full of both confusion and wonder.

“Yes. I’ll volunteer with the group, I’ll make sure they’re treated with the care they deserve and even say a few words if you want me to.” Scorpius smiled at him, reaching over to take Albus’ hand. His hands were a little cold, but Albus was so happy to be holding it that he could barely think about that.

“You’re so kind, Albus. Have I ever told you that before?”

Albus suddenly felt his mouth go dry and he licked his lips quickly, taking a deep breath when Scorpius’ eyes followed the movement of his tongue. He didn’t realise how close they were and it seemed Scorpius was leaning closer.

“I don’t think you have,” Albus spoke, voice dry.

A shadow came over them as Scorpius’ wings came from behind him and wrapped around them both, hiding them from the world with only the sky above them. Albus had never had a reason to feel threatened before and therefore felt rather safe in the walls of the castle, but hidden by Scorpius’ wings made him feel safer than he’d ever felt before. They met eyes, glistening green on glowing grey.

“I probably should have,” he murmured as they both worked on closing the gap between them. It seemed the world stopped moving as all the clocks stopped ticking. The only thing in the world that mattered was Scorpius. “You’ve been so good to me, and I don’t know why, but I’m really glad you have been. Thank you.”

He was so close that Albus could feel his warm breath against his lips and he would be more than happy to close the distance, to feel Scorpius’ lips on his. His heart was pounding against his ribcage as the air became thick. The feathers of his wings brushed against Albus arms slightly, causing his breath to catch.

“Scorpius,” he breathed as he closed his eyes, waiting for their lips to meet and-

“What the fuck?”

Followed by a giggle.

The boys tore apart quickly, Scorpius’ wings creating a whooshing noise as they pulled away from Albus and behind his back. Albus jumped up and turned, seeing his siblings standing in the doorway of the balcony. James’ eyebrows were raised and Lily had a wide – _really_ wide – smile on her face.

Lily squealed and jumped up and down. “I _knew_ it! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! Albus is hiding a Fairie!” She sung the last line, eyes bright whilst James clearly was still trying to process the whole thing. Scorpius had backed all the way up to the side of the balcony, clearly trying to make himself disappear. Albus was worried he’d just fly off and never come back.

“His name’s Scorpius,” Albus said, going to stand in front of him.

“So, that’s why you care so much,” James said, eyes still wide.

“Just- just please don’t tell dad,” Albus begged, his hands clasped together in front of him.

“We would never,” Lily said, elbowing James who then agreed with her. Lily stepped forward with a giggle and extended her hand, trying to get around Albus blocking Scorpius. “Lily Luna Potter, pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“Scorpius,” he said, not taking her hand just as he never took Albus’ the first time they met.

“James, sup dude,” James said, waving a hand in greeting. Scorpius did a small wave back. James then turned to Albus. “Why is there a Fairie in your room and why were you about to kiss him?”

“I wasn’t about to kiss him,” Albus denied.

“You weren’t?” Scorpius said.

“No,” Albus turned to him. “I mean, yes I was.”

“You was?” James said.

“No. Wait, this is confusing.”

“It’s really not,” both James and Scorpius said at the same time.

“Why does it matter if I was about to kiss him or not?”

They both silenced, Scorpius folding his arms and wings around himself. Albus sighed to himself, rubbing the back of his neck and wondering just _how stupid_ did he have to be to leave his door unlocked after running away from his siblings. Of course they’d come looking for him purely because they’d be worried.

“I found him,” Albus said, “down by the site where the Fairies were trapped in a net and injured. I couldn’t leave him there.”

James looked as if he was going to argue the point further, but quickly ran his eyes over Scorpius and sighed. “I’m sorry, mate. What happened down there was awful.”

“Thank you,” Scorpius said in a voice smaller than Albus had ever heard it.

James turned back to Albus. “I’ll keep this a secret, but we need to get the Royal Assholes of Ryhoth out of here.”

#

Another week passed and it was another week that Albus had not kissed Scorpius. It was almost torture, knowing how close they’d been before to how Scorpius could now barely look at him. Albus had tried apologising for brushing him off so quickly, but he said it was fine and went back to ignoring him. They’d become friends rather fast considering how apprehensive he was towards Albus when they first met, but Albus felt like he was back at that very first day.

Albus suspected he was feeling a little trapped, as he had stated before. Whereas now his wound was fully healed once again thanks to Albus, and Albus half expected him to just leave, but he never did. He still stayed despite the out Albus had given him multiple times. Though, he didn’t want him to leave either.

His feelings were rapidly growing. Every time he walked back to his room and saw Scorpius sitting there with his head in a book, his heart rate increased rapidly, his palms became sweaty and mouth became dry. All coherent thoughts would disappear from his mind and all he could do is stand and stare until Scorpius coughed and made him jolt back to real life.

On top of all that, the Royal Pains had not left the castle. They were still stalking about the walls, pretending to aid his parents with the investigation when all along they were the ones who sent the assassins. That information was not confirmed, of course, but the Potter kids just knew it. They were clearly trying to throw off their own suspicion.

Not that it was working.

Even Harry was beginning to get suspicious, knowing that someone had to set the order. Unless Ryhoth had a secret rebellion, there was no way anyone would go against the Kings orders, which meant the King had to have set the order. Of course, King Phillip denied, and denied, and denied this over, and over and over.

Further, James had failed to convince their dad to send out a group of people to bury the Fairies, mainly because James couldn’t get a moment alone with Harry without King Phillip, meaning that he had no choice but to ask them together. King Phillip had somehow convinced Harry to wait till after the investigation to clean up the sight – which was, in Albus’ eyes, a load of bullshit.

He sighed to himself as he turned over in bed, wishing – for the first time – that he had his bed to his self so he could roll over and throw a giant fit without waking the male next to him. Albus turned on his side, watching Scorpius sleep peacefully. His wings were wrapped around him as they usually were, eyelashes fluttering softly as he dreamt. He looked young, as he should. Awake, his eyes were haunted by the world he knows, bags underneath his eyes, but asleep he was simply at peace. He was simply the teenage Fairie he should be.

Then his eyes fluttered open, meeting Albus’.

“Were you watching me sleep?” He asked, voice croaky. Albus wished he could deny it, but he couldn’t, so he said nothing at all. Scorpius smiled softly. “I can’t blame you, I watch you, too.” Then, Scorpius brushed a hand over his cheeks and closed his eyes. “Go to sleep, Albus.”

But he couldn’t.

No way could he sleep after that. What was Scorpius playing at? Did he even realise the effect he had on him. That that one touch on his cheeks had the ability to set off every nerve in his body? And how was he supposed to sleep next to him – the boy who had very easily stolen his heart in his very short stay – and not do anything?

Albus groaned, trying not to reawaken Scorpius. Instead he climbed out of bed and shoved on a dressing gown, exiting his room and making his way down the hall. He had no idea where he was going, but he just needed some fresh air.

He walked through the castle, remembering the day when he’d snuck Scorpius in and how he was nearly caught by his mother and then later Lily. It was probably one of the most disobedient things he’d ever done and somehow gotten away with it – at least thus far anyway. He still had no destination in mind when he lightly jogged down the spiral staircase and crossed over into the West Wing where the guests were staying.

He came to a halt when he heard voices violently whispering at each other. They were coming from just ahead and around the corner, so Albus froze to listen.

“Your walls have been breached, you need to solve that,” came the one harsh voice in a whisper. Albus thought it might have been King Phillip, but he couldn’t be sure. He took a brave few steps forward.

“What do you mean by that?” That voice was his dad, talking louder (his dad never did learn how to whisper).

“I have reason to believe there is a scumbag Fairie hiding in this castle and I demand you exterminate it.” Albus was shook at the way King Phillip referred to Fairies – as though they were spiders or rats, not real people with real feelings and real lives. But then there was the other thing. He _knew._ He had somehow found out about Scorpius and he was trying to get rid of him. His breath caught in his throat.

“Don’t be so ridiculous. How did you come by this piece of fiction?” Harry said. His voice was getting louder, but along with the footsteps, Albus realised they were walking – towards him. Albus jumped into action, running and hiding behind a winding wall, hoping they wouldn’t see him.

“Camilla saw him on the balcony of your youngest son’s room, the rude one who never speaks.”

“Would you mind the way you talk about my child. I would never speak of Camilla in such way,” Harry scolded. The two Kings stormed passed Albus, too engrossed in their conversation to notice him eavesdropping. Albus came out of his hiding spot and followed them on light feet.

“There is still a Fairie in these walls.”

“Anyone would think you have a problem with them, your Highness.” Albus nearly smirked at the sarcastic tone of his father.

“Surely not even you want that kind of breach.”

Harry stopped walking. “Fine, we’ll go to Albus’ room and prove that this is just nonsense.”

“Fine.”

Albus panicked.

He split off from his father, running the long way back to his room but knowing he’ll make it quicker than them due to his speed. His bare feet pounding on the red carpet as he sprinted up the stairs and through the hall. He reached his room in record speed, barrelling in and shouting Scorpius’ name.

“Scor! Scorpius, you need to get up. You need to hide, in Lily’s room or somewhere.” He shook the Fairie awake, but he was rather groggy and confused as to what was happening. “My dad’s coming, Scorpius, with the King! Please, you need to hide somewhere.”

But it was too late.

The words settled too late and just as Scorpius jumped out of bed, Harry and King Phillip stormed into Albus room. Albus immediately jumped in front of Scorpius, not to hide him, but to protect him.

“Ha, ha! See, I told you,” King Phillip jeered, waving his hand in Scorpius’ direction. “Absolute disgusting creature, and it’s been here in the castle all along."

“Shut up!” Albus screamed. “Don’t talk about him like that.”

“Albus,” Scorpius whispered behind him. “I’ll go, Albus. It’s fine.”

“Yes, leave. You shouldn’t be here anyway.”

“Dad,” Albus pleaded, looking at his dad with wide eyes. But he knew before he even asked that this was out of his hands. Yes, it was his dad’s castle, but his relationship with Ryhoth and King Phillip was way more important than Scorpius.

“I’m sorry, Al,” he spoke and Albus actually believed that he was sorry.

“It’s okay,” Scorpius whispered behind him, before leaning around and planting a kiss to his cheek. “Fairies aren’t meant to be trapped, remember? I won’t forget you, Albus.”

Scorpius weakly smiled at him before making his way over to Albus’ balcony and opening the door. He turned and gave Albus one last look before taking off, flying over his balcony and off into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can only apologise, good job you only have to wait till tomorrow to see what happens!  
> Thanks to @nicolejustdraws for another drawing!  
> Let me know your thoughts!  
> Twitter: @sunshinescorp


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think you guys might like this chapter :)

Albus stormed into Lily’s room after pushing past his father and the King, fury leaking every ounce of him. Jaffa Cake barked on his arrival, warning Lily of an intruder, but the girl barely moved. She could sleep through a bloody hurricane if she wanted. Jaffa Cake calmed down once Albus turned the light on and turned around to paw Lily and wake her up.

“Get off, Jaffa!” She spoke, not opening her eyes.

“He’s gone, Lily,” Albus said, not able to hold it in any longer. “Scorpius is gone, King fucking-whatever-his-name-is drove him away! He’s gone, Lily and I don’t know what to do!”

Lily jumped out of bed just as Albus flung open her balcony doors, looking out and hoping to spot just a glimpse of those angelic wings that glowed in the moonlight. But there was no sight of him, nothing, not even a sparkle. He was gone.

“Albus, slow down! What’s going on?” Lily said, rushing beside him with her dressing gown wrapped around her.

“There’s no time, I have to find him. He said so himself that Fairies' don’t survive on their own, Lily! And he’s on his own, and Phillip now knows of his existence and will probably have hunters out there looking for him.”

Without making a conscious decision, Albus turned and ran out of Lily’s room. Lily came running after him, telling him to stop and trying to ask where he was going, but there was no time for stopping. Albus had to find him, and he won’t ever stop looking for him. He lost Lily halfway out of the castle and kept going and going, ignoring the harsh floor on his bare feet.

He ran out of the castle and through the empty market, deserted now that the night had befallen. Tomorrow, it would be blooming once again, the patrons unaware of the tragedy the youngest Prince has suffered. Until then, the darkness of the night will be the Prince’s only friend. Beneath his feet the gravelly floor pierced his skin, but he had no time to think about that, there were more pressing matters.

Once past the market, he crossed the flowing stream and into the woods. During the day, the woods were a friendly affair, full of life and colour and dreams. But at night, the shadows came to haunt it, creatures came out to play and your darkest nightmares became a reality. Albus came to a halt, his breath visible in the cold night, making faces in front of him.

“Scorpius?” He called, his voice echoing off the trees. The wind blew, a whistling noise travelling through the air and Albus let himself believe it was the whooshing of Scorpius’ wings and turned rapidly, only to find himself more alone than ever. “SCORPIUS?” He shouted again, his legs picking up as he ran through the trees, twigs snapping under his feet.

He tripped over a rock and tumbled to the floor, a pain shooting through his ankle as he let out a strangled scream. In the distance, a wolfs' howl set his nerves on fire. Albus picked himself back up and broke back into a limped sprint, trying to ignore the pain throbbing through his ankle. In the distance, he thought he saw a glimpse of white and followed it, hoping for it to be Scorpius’ wings.

“AL?”

He kept running, ignoring his name being called. It wasn’t Scorpius and therefore it didn’t matter.

“ALBUS?”

He kept going.

Through the darkened trees, through the thickening fog and towards where he swore he saw Scorpius. He had no intention of stopping, not until he found him. Not until he begged him to come back. They would find a way to let him stay and Albus didn’t know how just yet, but he would.

In his heightened state of anxiety, Albus never heard the howling get closer, he never heard the growling in the shadows. When the wolf attacked it came out of nowhere. Albus was flung to the floor, the growling now the only thing he could hear aside from his pounding heart and the distant calling of his name. The wolf loomed over him, baring its teeth and planting its giant paws either side of Albus. He sucked in a breath, prepared for this to be his last ever breath when a flash of white appeared over him.

The wolf was knocked away from him and rolled a few times, and then someone landed – no, not just someone, _Scorpius_ – in front of him, wings threateningly spread out beside him. His eyes glowed bright silver as a whoosh of wind scared the wolf away, whimpering into the shadows of the night.

Once the wolf was out of sight, Scorpius dropped his stance, his wings dropping to their usual position behind his back, becoming significantly smaller. He held a hand out to Albus, who quickly took it and let himself be pulled to his feet.

“What are you doing out here, Albus?” He spoke in that I’m-mad-but-not-really-mad-at-you kind of way that he seemed to have mastered.

“Looking for you,” Albus replied just as the voices that had been calling him caught up. James and Lily were out of breath and panting hard, but stopped just short of the scene. Scorpius didn’t bother to register their entrance. “You said Fairies’ don’t survive on their own.”

“They don’t, but humans have even less of a chance.” He took a deep breath and looked around, seemingly staking out anymore danger before turning his gaze back to Albus. “I couldn’t stay. I’m a burden on you, Albus. I have been from the moment you met me trapped in that net.”

“I don’t want you to leave,” Albus said, talking around the lump in his throat. He grabbed Scorpius’ hands and held them tight.

Scorpius looked at their hands before back at Albus. “I don’t belong there, we both know that no matter how much we want to believe different. We- we could never work, and you deserve so much more than a disgusting creature like me, right?”

Albus stepped forward, clasping their hands tight between them. Scorpius’ wings reacted to the touch, closing around them both, seemingly creating a sort of privacy away from Lily and James who were watching the whole interaction.

“You’re not a disgusting creature to me. You are – you’re beautiful and kind and caring. Just because King Dickhead doesn’t see you for that, doesn’t mean I don’t.”

“Not even your dad could protect me and it’s his castle. As long as there’s a King of Ryhoth, as long as there’s someone out there hunting Fairies’, we could never work.”

“Scorpius,” he pleaded, but the other boy stepped back, expanding his wings and releasing Albus’ hand.

“I’m sorry, Albus. Truly, I am.” He took a few more steps back. “If there was some way for this work, if the stars could be rewritten and our fate changed, then I would change it. But, I can’t, and I will forever hate that. I’m sorry.”

And with that, Scorpius took to the skies.

Albus watched him go until he was no bigger than star in the sky. Once out of sight, he dropped to his knees, curling his hair between his fingers and letting out a strangled cry. Hot, wet tears came streaming down his face as the sobs erupted from him louder than they ever had before. He’d never known heartbreak quite like this. He never realised just how badly it would truly hurt.

He didn’t recall how he got back to the castle. He knew Lily and James had something to do with it, but the next thing he knew, he was waking up in his own bed without the familiar feeling of someone sleeping next to him. He shouldn’t have that ache in his heart – he barely knew Scorpius. It hadn’t been long since they first met, yet he hung over Albus like a rainstorm – but the kind that creates rainbows, not thunder storms.

Albus didn’t get out of bed that day, or the day after, or the day after. Lily and James brought him food. His mum tried talking to him, his dad tried even harder. But he didn’t want them. There was only one person he wanted and he couldn’t have him. And therefore, he wanted no one.

On the fourth day, James and Lily planned an intervention and forced Albus up and down to dinner which was to be shared with the King, Queen and Princess of Ryhoth. And he couldn’t think of a worse place to be. He sat next to Lily in his usual seat, James sat opposite him with Princess Camilla next to him. His father sat at the head of the table, and King Phillip at the other side. His mum was next to James and Queen Anastasia next to Lily and Albus was secretly glad he never had to sit anywhere near them.

“It’s nice of the youngest Prince to finally join us,” King Phillip said, looking at Albus.

Albus lifted his head to look at him, knowing the bags around his eyes and the mess of his hair. He knew he looked like anything but a Prince, and he was about to display the manners of a street-born merchant.

“Did you mean the rude one who never speaks?” Albus asked, forcing as much bite to his tone. He was not about to _pretend_ to like the man who had forced Scorpius from his life and invaded his home. If King Phillip was taken aback he didn’t show it. So, Albus pushed it. “Do you like killing Fairies’, King Phillip? Does it bring you some kind of joy?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Albus.”

Albus tilted his head to the side. “Liar.”

“Albus!” His mother scolded.

Albus barely blinked. “I know you did it. I know you hired the assassins to take out the Fairies’ living on the border of _our_ city. And you had absolutely no right.” Albus stood up, staring him down. “They weren’t bothering you, they never wanted a war but you gave them one anyway. They were off your territory, yet you still _murdered_ them. Tell me, King Phillip, what does it feel like to murder a group of innocents? What does it feel like to be a murderer?”

“I never murdered anyone.”

“Maybe not directly, but their blood is still on your hands. Did you get the money for their wings, or their blood? Did you get what you wanted, or are you mad that one survived?”

“Albus, sit down,” his dad said.

Albus did no such thing.

“I know why you’re here. I know you’re here to try and deflect your guilt, but it didn’t work, King Phillip. Your daughter has a loud mouth, she can’t keep her prejudices to herself, you see. And you all need to get out of here, as far from Tilgir as you can possibly get.”

King Phillip stood up now too. “Or what, Prince Albus? What can you do, huh? You and what army. The Fairies’ are all dead, they can’t join you.”

“And whose fault is that?” Albus screamed, crawling on top of the table and making his way over to the King. Luckily, James was faster and scrambled after him, grabbing Albus just before he reached him and grabbing hold on him, letting him thrash in his arms. “HOW WOULD YOU LIKE IT IF SOMEONE MURDERED YOUR FAMILY, HUH?”

King Phillip was irritably calm. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Albus,” James said. “Albus, come on, let’s go.” Albus was about to protest, but James tugged on his arm and he relented.

The Potter brothers jumped down from the table and Albus pulled himself from James’ grip and ran from the room. James followed and Lily got up from the table too. Albus bolted it down the corridor and up the stairs, trying to get as far away from the dining room as possible. He only stopped once he reached his room and stormed inside, James and Lily on his tow.

“What was that?” James said. “Look, I know you’re angry, Al, but we have to be careful. He’s clearly a man who doesn’t give a damn about anyone else’s feelings, who murders people for the fun of it!”

“He deserved everything I said and so much more,” Albus replied, pacing back and forth, still fuming.

“Agreed,” Lily spoke up. James shot her a look and she shrugged.

“Just, keep it on the down low for now. We don’t know what he’s capable of.”

#

Albus did keep it on the down low. He stopped attending any meal times, instead being brought food by James and Lily once again. Every day he’d go out to the woods to try and find Scorpius. He knew – well, he had a feeling – that Scorpius stuck around and was simply hiding from him as he had nowhere else to go. Albus began taking food out to the woods and leaving it, and when he returned it would always be gone. He figured it could be the wild wolves or the flying birds, but he chose to believe it was Scorpius.

Every day he would climb the tree – the very tree that led him to Scorpius’ existence in the first place – and look out for him and every day he would be disappointed in never finding him. It was like he was a ghost, a constant presence but never visible. Little did Albus know that Scorpius never went anywhere. Just as he suspected, Scorpius was always watching. He couldn’t bring himself to ever leave the black-haired Prince for good.

One week had passed since Scorpius fled the castle, and Albus’ heart still felt as empty as it did the night he left. Scorpius had become a major aspect of his life even for that short amount of time. He found himself still sneaking food or taking books from the library that he’d like, only for Hulu to eat the food and the books to go unread. And the unread books would haunt Albus day and night but he never found it in him to return them.

That day, Lily had dragged Albus out to the market – _it’ll be good for you, Al,_ she had claimed. He didn’t feel like it in the slightest, but he thought he’d appease her by agreeing. The market was thriving with the locals that morning who had heard the youngest Prince was finally leaving the castle (none of them had seen him leave recently, even on his trips to the woods. Albus knew how to make himself invisible).

Lily talked kindly to the market owners and their patrons and Albus inputted where he had to, trying to make the best impression. He didn’t have the best reputation, many believing he had an attitude simply because he disliked the attention. The air was warm and stuffy due to the many people around, making Albus feel suffocated in his clothes.

“Lily, I’m just going to get some air,” he said to his little sister. She nodded and smiled softly at him, a smile that made him feel like he had to return one. So, he did, before slipping through the crowd and out into a more spacious area. He headed towards the stream, knowing the woods were just opposite, knowing – or feeling – that Scorpius was just across that bridge.

He took a few deep breaths, allowing the cleaner air to fill his lungs and letting it fill him up. He stood and watched Lily in the crowd, how easy that kind of interaction came to her. Albus had always hated it, had never felt comfortable around Tilgir and its citizens. He much preferred the solidarity of his own room, with only his cat for company.

And Scorpius.

He wondered if he was even alive. It had been a week, and Scorpius repeatedly told him that he wouldn’t survive on his own. Yet, he was on his own. And that’s what scared Albus more. He could live – well, he could survive – without Scorpius if he knew he was alive, but not knowing seemed so much worse. At least if he was alive, there was still a chance for them. Once the Royals of Ryhoth had scrambled back to the dark hole they emerged from, Scorpius could come back. Tilgir would accept him. Tilgir accepted everyone.

But if he was dead.

Well, there’s no coming back from death.

Out the corner of his eye, Albus saw a something reflect off the sun, a bright blinding light catching his attention. He followed it, seeing the arrow far too late.

The arrow coming straight for him.

Albus took in a deep breath, frozen to his spot, unable to do so much as scream. The world slowed around him, people gasping and children screaming as the arrow came towards him. As an arrow came to kill their Prince.

“ALBUS!”

Then something wrapped around him. Something white and feathery. Wings. Scorpius’ wings.

And then a scream.

Scorpius’ scream. It was loud and echoed throughout Albus’ ears as the arrow collided harshly with it, piercing the wing but missing Albus entirely, the thickness causing it to come to a stop before it hit him. Scorpius collapsed to the floor, screaming in pain. The wing seared, the iron arrow burning through it. Albus dropped to his knees next to him, trying to stop him thrashing about but it wasn’t working.

“Take it out!” He screamed, and Albus remembered their first meeting when he begged for the same thing. Albus looked to his wing, his pure white wing stained with his thick red blood. Just as Albus was about to take hold of the arrow, Scorpius’ other wing slapped him out of the way, another arrow flying past them and burying into the floor.

Someone really wanted Albus dead.

“Al! Scorpius!” Lily cried as she came running over, dropping to her knees as well.

“Albus Potter, if you don’t get this thing out of me right now-” Scorpius was cut off by his own screams as Albus pulled the arrow from his wing, throwing it to the floor.

Lily had decided to run back to the castle to inform James on the happenings out in the town. He would not be happy knowing someone was actively trying to kill his little brother. Albus thought even Lily was ready throw some punches towards them. Albus managed to somehow help Scorpius up and led him away from their _very_ open spot, hiding behind a wall where the archer couldn’t see them.

Scorpius slipped down the wall and let out a deep breath before turning to Albus. “Who’d you piss off this time?” And despite himself, he smiled; that angelic smile that Albus loved.

“Why is it you always insist on hurting your wing?” Albus joked, going to inspect it further. “Can I touch it?”

Scorpius nodded, clearly still exasperated. “But be careful, they’re sensitive.”

Albus didn’t exactly know what he meant by ‘sensitive’, but with his gentlest touch, Albus tried to get a clear look. The iron arrow had cauterised the wound and singed some of the feathers around it, but it was no longer bleeding so he took that as a win. There was, however, a gaping hole straight through the middle.

“Albus?” Scorpius said as Albus looked at the wing in horror. “Albus, look at me.” He did. “It’ll heal, okay? No need to look so scared.”

“There’s a hole in your wing, Scorp.”

“And in my heart.”

Albus looked at him with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. “How did you know that was going to happen?”

Scorpius closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, still in clear agony. “You act as if I left, but I never did. I never could. I’ve been here the whole time, Albus.” Scorpius hissed in pain as Albus went to touch his wing again. Albus muttered an apology, feeling Scorpius’ pain digging deep into his heart.

“I don’t know how to fix this, you need to see a healer.”

“I told you, it’ll heal on its own and besides, no healer is going to know how to fix it anyway.” Scorpius grabbed his arm and tugged slightly, willing Albus to come away from his wing and settle in front of him. “Now, can you just kiss me for saving your life already?”

“I-”

Scorpius sighed. “You… don’t want that, do you?”

“NO! I mean, yes! Of course I do, absolutely, one hundred percent, that’ll be fantastic, incredible, mind-blowing, even. I definitely, definitely want to kiss you.” Albus silently cursed himself for throwing his hands about everywhere and nearly hitting Scorpius on more than one occasion. He hated when he got all nervous like this, it was like his body and mouth had a sudden mind of their own.

Scorpius smiled fondly at him. “Then what are you waiting for?”

Nothing. Albus wasn’t waiting for anything. So, he took a deep breath and leaned in slowly. Scorpius met him halfway, their lips connecting and the whole world came to a stop. For a moment, it was just them and no one else, just them against the entire world and Albus would fight every single last person if it meant he could keep kissing Scorpius. His lips were soft, like him, and warm, like him.

Albus adjusted his position, careful not to break the kiss, and made himself more comfortable, tilting his head to deepen the kiss. He placed one hand on the back of Scorpius’ neck, the other on his shoulder. Scorpius’ hands were tangled in Albus’ hair, pulling and tugging but Albus didn’t mind at all. Slowly, Albus began moving his hand that was on Scorpius’ shoulder down towards his shoulder blade where his wings started, and Scorpius quickly broke the kiss.

“Don’t touch the wing!” He said quickly, quickly grabbing Albus’ arm and pushing it away.

“I- I’m sorry, I thought I could now,” he stuttered, holding his hands up in surrender.

“As I said before, they’re sensitive.”

“What do you mean?” Albus asked, confusion lacing his tone.

Scorpius smirked and tilted his head and Albus wanted to wipe that smirk off his face. “I’ll tell you when you’re older.”

“We’re the same age!”

“In your years, we are.”

Albus collapsed onto the back of his legs. “So, how old are you in Fairie years?”

Scorpius gasped, placing a hand over his heart. “Merlin’s beard, Albus, you don’t just ask a Fairie their age! How rude.”

Albus was about to apologise profusely when James and Lily came running back shouting his name, followed by Albus’ parents.

“Albus! Are you alright?” His mum asked, pulling Albus from the floor and into a fierce hug before inspecting him all over.

“I’m fine, mum. Scorpius is the one who got injured.”

Ginny looked confused for a moment before looking at the floor, eyes widening upon seeing Scorpius still sat there, wings spread out – one with a gaping hole in it. “Oh, hello, Scorpius,” she said. Scorpius smiled awkwardly and gave a two-fingered salute. “How are you?”

“In a little bit of pain, if I’m honest.”

“Albus,” his dad said, stepping forward. “The archer has been arrested and I’ve sent the Royals of Ryhoth on their way. King Phillip never admitted it, but I know it was him who sent the assassin after your little performance at dinner. Now, let’s get you two back in the castle, yes?”

“Two?” Albus asked.

Harry nodded. “I can’t very well leave Scorpius out here injured now, can I? That wouldn’t be very King-ly of me.”

“Thank you, sir,” Scorpius said as Harry offered a hand to help him up.

“No need to thank me,” Harry smiled.

James leaned into Albus and whispered in his ear, “they saw you kissing.”

Albus nearly choked on his own spit and James had to pat his back a few times, smirking at him before offering to help Scorpius back up to castle. Albus tried _not_ to think about his parents seeing him kiss a Fairie and instead followed them up to the castle, letting Lily cuddle up into him as they walked.

They took Scorpius to the hospital wing inside the castle, letting the healer work on him despite having little knowledge on how to do so and despite Scorpius’ protests that it would heal on its own – Fairies’ were really stubborn creatures. Eventually though, he accepted the sleeping draught and fell into a soft sleep, something he must have been severely deprived of during his time in the woods for fear of being hunted.

Albus stayed by his side the entire time, tucked into a chair and reading a book out loud that he thought Scorpius might like, even though he couldn’t hear him. Scorpius had been asleep a couple of hours when his dad came back to the hospital wing after dealing with the Royals, making sure they were gone for good and not returning to Tilgir anytime soon.

“I wish you’d come to me with this, Al. I could have helped him,” Harry said, pulling up a chair next to him.

“Would you have?”

“When have you ever seen me turn anyone in need of help away?”

It was true. King Harry had a reputation for helping those in need, sometimes housing people for the night when they had nowhere to stay and helping them find shelter the next day. If you were in need, King Harry is always guaranteed to help.

“I thought it might be different, because _he’s_ different,” Albus said, looking at Scorpius breathing peacefully.

“He’s not all that different though.” Harry looked between Scorpius and Albus for a while before smiling softly. “He can stay, Al. For as long as he needs.” Then he smirked. “But not in your room.”

“What?”

“Don’t think I don’t know what’s going on here, separate rooms.”

Albus sighed and rolled his eyes, but there was a fond smile on his lips. “Fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know your thoughts!  
> Another fantastic drawing from my very talented friend @nicolejustdraws of a rather distraught looking Albus searching for his Fairie.  
> Also, if you know what I mean by 'sensitive' then you know :') If not, pick up a Sarah J Maas novel :D  
> Twitter: @sunshinescorp


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello and welcome to the final chapter! I hope you have all been enjoying my fantasy AU fic, I really enjoyed writing it so :D Enjoy!!!

“Good morning, or should I say afternoon,” Albus greeted Scorpius when he finally woke up over a day later. The other boy groaned and rolled over, burying his face into the pillow and squashing his good wing beneath him. _Wings really are inconvenient,_ Albus thought. “James and Lily have been setting up your living quarters; it’s next to James’ on the floor below mine. Dad insisted unfortunately.”

“Shhh, it’s too early for you to talk this much,” Scorpius groaned, limply holding out a hand with one finger poised, dramatically missing Albus’ lips. Albus chuckled, leaning forward and kissing the tip of Scorpius’ finger.

“It’s the afternoon, silly,” he mumbled.

“I’m still tired though,” Scorpius said, dragging himself into a sitting position, his wings automatically falling to his side. He inspected his injured wing briefly, which was now fully clean and on its way to a full recovery. “It doesn’t hurt.”

“They gave you some pain relief,” Albus explained. Scorpius scrunched his nose a little and Albus guessed that Fairies’ didn’t often use pain relief – they probably didn’t need it with their natural healing powers and magical abilities. He shrugged and turned back to Albus, his eyes tired but a smile on his face.

“Did you stay here the entire time?”

Albus shrugged. “Had to make sure you didn’t choke on your tongue in your sleep.”

Scorpius snorted and shuffled along, patting the bed next to him. Albus took up the invitation, moving from the uncomfortable chair that was beginning to hurt his back to the spare space on the bed. He pulled his legs into a crossing position and Scorpius adjusted to face him, mirroring his position.

“I didn’t get the chance to thank you, did I?” Albus asked, grabbing one of Scorpius’ hands and started playing with his fingers.

Scorpius smiled. “For what?”

“Saving my life.”

“Oh, no, I think you covered that,” he said, a hint of teasing in his tone.

“I’m not sure the message really got across,” Albus teased back, leaning forward slowly and waiting for Scorpius to meet him halfway. The other boy did and their lips were together once again in a hot chaste kiss. Scorpius giggled against his lips, breaking it slightly before coming right back.

It was crazy how far they’d come in just a few weeks. When they first met, Scorpius was stubborn and easily irritable; he often gave Albus the cold shoulder and hardly ever joked around. Now, he smiled a whole lot more, he joked around, he even _giggled._ He actually _wanted_ to be around Albus, which just shows how far they’d really come. Albus had always wanted to be around him, but being wanted made him fall even more in love with him.

It wasn’t love. Not yet anyway, but it could be. It would be, very soon.

A coughing noise broke them apart and Albus jumped from the bed, crossing his hands behind his back and faced his dad. Scorpius barely flinched, instead looking rather irritated they’d been interrupted. Harry smirked at them both before raising his eyebrows at Albus. Albus could only hopeless shrug.

“Good to see you’re awake, Scorpius,” Harry said by way of greeting.

“Thank you, Har- er, King- erm, your… Highness?” Scorpius’ face was scrunched up in confusion, clearly unsure on how to greet the King of Tilgir. “I’m sorry, Fey don’t do Royalty, and so I’m not sure how to address you correctly.”

“Harry is just fine,” he spoke and Scorpius nodded along, a relieved smile on his face. “Your room is ready, Albus can show you up there now. Do you mind if I…?” He gestured to the end of Scorpius’ bed and Scorpius shook his head, allowing him access. Once awkwardly perched there, he looked back up at Scorpius. Albus, not knowing what his father was going to say, felt the need to grab Scorpius’ hand in comfort.

“I’m really sorry about what happened to your family,” Harry started, tears welling in his eyes behind his glasses. He couldn’t stand seeing others in pain; it was one of the many things that made him a great leader. “James spoke to me about arranging a burial for them and I think it’s a wonderful idea, but I wouldn’t want to impose and do something you don’t want us to do, it’s your family, your decision.”

“A burial sounds… lovely, thank you.”

“I’ll get a few people together, but if you want you can lead on this-”

Scorpius started shaking his head causing Harry to cut himself off. “I don’t want to lead on it, I’m not even sure if I want to be there just yet. I don’t know if I’ll be able to see my parents and not break down completely. I could have gone back there plenty of times in the past week, but every time I chickened out, I couldn’t go. I couldn’t see them.”

“I understand. I lost my own parents when I was younger, and even now I struggle to go to their grave and I barely knew them.” Harry leaned over and placed a hand on Scorpius’ shoulder. “I’ll arrange the burial and keep you informed, you decide on your input.”

“I appreciate that, a lot.”

“Right, boys, Albus if you would show Scorpius to his room, we’re having dinner quite soon and I imagine you both want to get cleaned up,” he smiled at them both, slipping off the bed and clapping his hands together. Harry was out of the room rather quickly and Scorpius turned to Albus with his eyebrows raised.

Albus held out a hand for Scorpius to take, which he did, and said, “after you, your Highness.”

“I believe you’re the Prince around here,” Scorpius replied, hopping from the bed and lacing their fingers together.

“Well, every Prince needs a Princess, correct?”

“Does this mean I can try on your crown?” Scorpius sounded rather excited at the prospect. As they walked, he wrapped his good wing around Albus’ shoulders and swung their hands between them.

“Maybe, if you behave,” Albus said, winking at him.

Scorpius smirked. “Didn’t know you were such a stickler for the rules. Hey Hulu,” Scorpius said, bending down to scoop the cat up in his arms. Hulu instantly started purring, nudging her face against his cheeks and licking the tip of his nose.

“I still can’t believe she likes you, she doesn’t like anyone!” Albus exclaimed, watching as the two shared numerous eskimo kisses.

“Same could be said about you,” Scorpius joked, releasing Hulu to the floor and letting her glide along with them to Scorpius’ room. Albus went to protest, but found he couldn’t find much fault in the words. It was true, he wasn’t a massive fan of people until Scorpius came along, except for maybe his siblings… on a good day.

They eventually reached Scorpius’ room which was situated right next to James’. Inside it had a similar layout to Albus’ with the same King size four poster bed, decorated in a navy blue bedding and curtains. The floor was laminated with a navy blue rug spread out at the foot of the bed stretching out to a small step that led onto the balcony. Whilst Scorpius had been sleeping, James and Harry had the local seamstress make him some clothes to fit his wings which had been delivered that afternoon.

Albus walked through into the en-suite bathroom and began running a bath, knowing exactly how much the Fairie loved to bathe, before returning to the room and finding Scorpius spread out on the duvet with Hulu curled up on the pillow next to him. Albus went over and climbed on top of the bed, straddling the other boy.

Scorpius sat up, moving backwards to lean against the headboard, adjusting Albus to fit in his lap properly. Scorpius smiled at him goofily before reaching up and plucking the crown from his head, then settling it on his own head of snow white hair.

“I could get you done for treason for that,” Albus said, voice low as he wrapped his arms around his neck. The crown fit his head perfectly, the gold glistening gently against his silver locks and Albus nearly had to look away. Scorpius was perfect in every way, ripped in all the right edges, a masterpiece for museums.

“Does that mean you’ll have my head?” He asked.

Albus smiled cheekily. “Yup, right off here,” he gestured to his neck, hand straightened and mimicking a hatchet, “and then your head, along with the crown, will be saved in a jar and kept in my room.”

“And they say Fairies are inhumane,” Scorpius said, rolling his eyes. Albus let out a chuckle, leaning forward to connect their lips as though he would implode if parted from them any longer. Scorpius’ wings settled around them, his hands exploring the depths of Albus’ hair, whereas Albus’ own hands had crept beneath Scorpius’ shirt and were rested on his waist.

Albus pulled away, trailing kisses along his cheekbone and to his pointed ear, nibbling slightly on the end. Scorpius let out an involuntary moan, tilting his head for better access.

“Found a spot you like?” Scorpius teased.

“Actually, I think I found a spot you like,” Albus teased back, kissing his pointed ear again and letting that beautiful moan escape from his lips. Albus smiled widely, taking his lips on his again and swallowing up his moan.

They kissed until their lips went numb and then Scorpius pulled away to trace gentle kisses along his jaw and neck and down to his collarbone before rejoining his lips. He murmured something under his breath that Albus didn’t quite catch and decided to ignore, but he pulled away slightly to mumble it again.

“The bath,” he spoke quickly, going back in for a couple more kisses before pulling back and smiling at Albus.

Albus groaned, “but I’d much rather be kissing you.”

“A very whiney Prince, aren’t we? Come on, up,” Scorpius said, patting his sides and moving his wings so Albus had space. Albus groaned again, dramatically falling from his lap and star-fishing on the bed. Scorpius chuckled, tickling his sides lightly before gracefully rolling from the bed and disappearing into the bathroom.

Albus heard him turn the water off, messing around with various bottles before returning back into the room. “Are you just going to lie there?”

“Probably.” Scorpius threw a towel at him before closing the bathroom door. Albus smiled to himself, curling up on the bed and lightly giggling, feeling happier than he has in a long, long time.

It was pretty insane how one person could change everything. If Scorpius hadn’t stumbled into his life – or rather, if he hadn’t stumbled into his – then Albus would probably be getting ready for dinner with his family and some high-up noble, or he’d be expected to show his face at some opening of a war memorial, or even travelling to Ryhoth with his dad for negotiations on territory (he wanted to expand Tilgir, but was currently struggling with getting the council of Ryhoth to agree).

But he’s not doing any of that. Because of Scorpius, he’s in the castle after nearly being assassinated, whilst his father is trying to avoid yet another war with Ryhoth due to their ancient beliefs on how Fairies should be treated. And Albus would never trade Scorpius for his usual Princely duties. Because even though things are pretty crazy right now, he’s so much happier than he would have been had he not found Scorpius.

When Scorpius emerged from the bathroom all clean and dressed, they both headed down to the dining room to join Albus’ family for dinner. Scorpius was hesitant at first, feeling like he wouldn’t be wanted, but all that disappeared when Lily ran into his arms, squeezing the life out of him with a hug.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Lily exclaimed, arms still wrapped around him. It took Scorpius a while, but eventually he wrapped his arms around her too, wings following suit. “I was really worried.”

“You were?” Scorpius didn’t even try to hide the surprise in his tone.

Lily pulled away slightly to look at him. “Of course I was.” Lily pulled away completely when Scorpius opened his wings. “I’d say you can sit next to me, but that’s Al’s claimed spot so I’m afraid you’re stuck with James.”

James saluted at Scorpius and he smiled. “Not a problem.”

They took their given seats, Lily entertaining them all with a story about her day. She’d been out at the market all day volunteering on one of the stalls. The owner had gotten sick, and Lily wanted to make sure their business didn’t suffer from it, so had taken ownership of the stall for the day and will be until he was hopefully stable enough to return to work.

She’d always had a big heart, his little sister. It was one of the many things people loved about her, and she was widely loved. She took after their mother mostly, but held some of their fathers’ traits deep in her heart. Throughout Lily’s story, James was keeping Scorpius involved, often nudging him and rolling his eyes, pretending to be tired with Lily’s story even though he was always really fond of them, but it was making Scorpius laugh so Albus couldn’t complain.

The kids quietened when Harry and Ginny entered. Albus saw Scorpius squirm slightly in his seat, wondering if there was some tradition or greeting they had to uphold, but truth was King and Queen Potter were rather chilled out with their title and hated anyone fawning over them. And they certainly never made their kids, or any of their guests, greet them the way one would on the street.

“Oh good, you’re all here already,” Ginny said, kissing Lily and Albus on the forehead as she passed them to her seat. “Let’s get food on the table then, yes? I’m starving,” she said, gesturing to the workers around her.

“Erm,” Scorpius started, but decided to not take his statement any further.

“Something wrong?” Harry asked, kindly.

“Not exactly, it’s just – er, the cutlery,” Scorpius gestured vaguely then wiggled his fingers. “Is it made from iron?”

“Oh no, dear,” Albus’ mum said. “We made sure to put out our silver cutlery for you.”

“Oh, thank you.”

“So, dad, what’s happening with the Royals?” James asked as the food was being brought to the table. Harry let a servant put the chicken in the centre of the table before speaking, as he was blocking Harrys’ view of James.

“Unfortunately, not much. The archer has been arrested and is awaiting trial, but as the Royals are… well, Royal, there’s not much I can do without starting a war,” he sighed. The food had finished being dished out and they were now piling up their plates. Albus gave Scorpius a nod, telling him to go ahead.

“And we don’t want a war on our hands,” James agreed.

“Not with Ryhoth,” Scorpius said, then widening his eyes as though he didn’t expect to say the words out loud. He looked up from his plate to look at Harry. “Been there, done that, it’s not worth the consequences.”

“Did you lose?” Lily asked.

“I lost everything,” he said solemnly.

“I had no idea you were at war with them, if I did I would have come to your aid,” Harry said.

Scorpius half-smiled. “You say that now, but no one ever joins the losing side. We were obliterated before it even started.”

James leaned forward. “Dad, there has to be something we can do, get some kind of justice for Scorpius.”

“No,” Scorpius said softly. “It’s okay, you don’t have to.”

“If I could, I would,” Harry smiled at him.

“I know, and I really appreciate that,” Scorpius replied, still with that soft half-smile upon his lips that told Albus that he was really hurting. He wondered at which point he’d learned to read the other boy so well. At first, he was like a brick wall, but now he was an open book – to Albus anyway.

#

Scorpius never expected to ever see his parents again. The day they died, the day he kissed their foreheads and left them stranded on their death bed, he thought that would be the last time he’d ever see them. Yet, here he was, pulling on a pair of shoes and getting ready to head down to the massacre sight for the last time to bury his family.

And he was terrified for what he was returning to.

He knew their bodies would have begun to decay, but mostly he was scared that hunters would have returned to take their wings. Wings were the most sacred part of a Fairie, nothing was more important. And they were highly expensive. Fairies’ were often hunted for their wings, even just a chunk was worth more than most of the houses in Tilgir. Scorpius had known many Fey who had lost parts of their wings in fights and it never made it easier.

He took one last look in the mirror, seeing his grey eyes – the eyes of his father – shadowed by weeks of grief and restless nights. Then he forced a smile just to see it – his mothers’ smile. He had inherited all the best parts of her; her smile, her grace, her kindness, her love. Growing up, his whole life had been a battle, but he could never imagine it leading to where he was now. He could never imagine not even making it past his youth without his parents.

He turned from the mirror and walked into the bathroom, splashing water over his face to wake him up and to stop his dangerous thoughts from wandering. He dried his face with a towel before attempting to fix his hair just as Albus knocked on his door and entered of his own accord. Scorpius emerged from the bathroom with a forced smile.

His breath was knocked from him as he took Albus in. He had always been incredibly handsome, dazzling eyes and a personality to match, but there were days he managed to break the scale. He was wearing a pair of dress robes that fitted perfectly, his crown perched wonkily in his midnight black hair. Scorpius stepped forward and adjusted it for him.

“Are you ready?” Albus asked, voice quiet.

“As I’ll ever be.” A small lie, but a lie nonetheless.

Albus took his hand and began leading him through the castle (Scorpius was still struggling to find his way; the place was huge). They walked silently, Lily and James joining them on their route out of the castle, past the market where Albus had nearly been assassinated, over the stream and walking along the border of Tilgir. The forest trees were shining bright in the mid-morning sun, dancing along with the whistling wind.

Volunteers had been working all morning on the site of the massacre. They were sent to gather the belongings of the Fairies’ that hadn’t been stolen and take them to the castle for Scorpius to sort through whenever he was ready. During the week since the burial had been arranged and now, seven gravestones and coffins had been made and currently, the volunteers were digging seven identical graves on the outskirts of the forest, ready for the Fey.

Scorpius stopped just short of where the Fairies’ were, pulling Albus to a stop. James patted him on the back and Lily sent him a gentle smile before walking away and giving them privacy.

“We can go back,” Albus said.

Scorpius was shaking his head. “What kind of son would I be if I turned away from them? I did that once and look where it landed me.”

“I don’t know what happened that night, but nothing is your fault,” Albus said, taking both of his hands. “And I’m sure your mum and dad will understand.”

“Do you mind if I…?”

“Go ahead.”

Scorpius leaned down and kissed him on the cheek, before stepping away and towards scene of the massacre. He wrapped his large wings around himself, finding comfort in the action where he lacked it before. The air was cold around them as winter began to approach, and it was these months where Scorpius would take his mothers’ wings for granted. They used to be so warm and cosy, wrapping him up like a blanket and he would fall asleep in her arms.

He wiped a single tear from his eyes as his boots crunched against the leaves on the floor, the frost from that morning still slightly remaining. Scorpius approached the first of the fallen, Toulla, who’s one wing had been chopped from the shoulder blade and no doubt sold for money. Toulla was not much older than him, and she would be the one he went to whenever he fought with his dad. Her jokes were legendary. Scorpius bent down and pressed a kiss to his fingers before pressing them to her forehead.

“May rest come peacefully,” he muttered, standing once again and wiping away another stray tear. He kept walking and came to the next fallen victim. This one was a man of his fathers’ age who helped teach Scorpius how to fly. His name was Lyle, and he was fierce. Scorpius, once again, placed a kiss to his lips and then to Lyle’s forehead, muttering the words, “may rest come peacefully.”

He repeated the actions with the three other victims who had fallen that night, wishing them all the best in their next life – or whatever happened after you die. Three out of five had had their wings severed and every time it ached Scorpius’ heart.

But his parents were the hardest.

They were still there, exactly as he had left them. He’d half expected them to move, to get up and come looking for him because surely they’d never been really dead. Parents aren’t supposed to die, at least not before you’ve passed your youth. Yet, there they were. Scorpius gasped at the sight of them, his mother half hidden in his fathers’ wings and it dawned on Scorpius what that meant.

He remembered, just before he passed out that night, hearing a scream. It was loud and piercing, ripping through his ears before he’d lost consciousness. He’d almost forgotten about it, the noises of that dreaded, fateful night blurring into one. It was his mothers scream. His father would have ran to her aid and wrapped his wings around her just as the final blows hit, and the hunters would have retreated with a pair of chocolate brown wings to call their own.

His mother had lost them in battle.

Scorpius choked on a sob, having to force himself to turn and run away. He’d only made so far before his legs gave way and he dropped to his knees, letting out a cry of pain. His mother had lost the most sacred thing a Fairie owned. She had died knowing her pride and dignity had been stolen.

Albus’ arms were around him in a second and Scorpius let himself sob into his neck. _Fairies’ don’t mourn their dead,_ was one of the first things he’d said to him and he couldn’t have been more wrong. They usually never had time, not for funerals or for burials, not for farewells. The deaths were quick, the battle fierce, and the running rapid. No time for anything in between.

Albus allowed him time to calm down, helping him to his feet and walking him over to the stream. That morning, there was a thin layer of ice over the stream, a sure warning for the upcoming cold. The kids were getting excited for snowball fights and winter balls at school, unaware that a mass burial was taking place just across the stream.

By the time Scorpius had collected himself, the grounds had been cleared and the murdered Fey were tucked away in their coffins. Albus and Scorpius joined them for the lowering of the caskets as a violin sang them farewell. Scorpius watched his mother and father be lowered into the ground; the only thing taking away the emptiness was the hand holding his.

He wondered if there was another life, one where he found Albus and kept his parents, or was he destined to this life of a love made for the broken. He wondered what his parents would say if he ever got the chance to tell them he’d fallen in love with a human. Would they tell him they loved him? Or would they banish him from their lives? He was balancing on the beam of forbidden love, holding his ruined wings in a symphony of desire and hoping nobody would push him off the edge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final installment of art by @nicolejustdraws is wonderful!  
> I really hoped y'all enjoyed this and would love to hear your thoughts!  
> Thanks for reading!  
> Twitter: @sunshinescorp


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